Darkness and a Fairy
by NazdurukBugzappa
Summary: After crash-landing in an alternate universe, Hikari has to not only figure out how to get home, but also show some people "Pureblood Supremacy" needs to be rethought. (A companion-piece to Parallels and Coincidences)
1. Chapter 1

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 1

….Woop...woop...woop...

Beep...beep...beep...beep

...Hull breach... hull breach...

...pipo...pipo...pipo...

Ee...ee...ee...ee...ee..ee

Hikari awoke to a cacophony of assorted alarms and alerts. The HUDs in both her aircraft and her exo-armour were both flashing damage alerts. Her head hurt like hell, there was a sharp pain in her left side and left thigh.

_First things first,_ she thought. _Calm down, and assess the situation._

The situation was her escape from that alternate, nineteenth century, earth didn't go to plan. Both Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm decided to 'prematurely' break their treaties with the United States government, with the alien invasion no longer a priority, and a certain engineer (i.e. her) being their new 'must have' asset.

Her aircraft was currently in a flat-spin, and rapidly losing altitude. The jerk to the right, before she entered her Gate's threshold, was obviously from shrapnel from an exploding Prussian fighter-plane impacting the left of her aircraft, and the sharp jerk to the left, before she blacked out, was the shrapnel tearing through her left intake.

A particularly large piece of said shrapnel had pierced through the aircraft's fuselage, and the side of her exo-armour, and was lodged in her thigh.

She cut the direct neural-link she had with her exo-armour. The pain in her head and side vanished, as the feedback from her damaged armour was no longer passing through her own brain.

_That's one problem temporarily dealt with,_ she thought. _My leg isn't bleeding heavily, but it will, when I remove that from my leg. I'll leave that until later._

Gritting her teeth against the pain, she used the manual controls in her exo-armour to pull back on the aircraft's control stick.

She pulled out of her spin, but was still losing altitude too fast, and needed to slow down enough to change her crash-landing from 'exploding fireball' to 'left an x-hundred metre gouge in the landscape'

_**Blackness**_

()()()()()()

"...ello. Can you hear me?" said a girl's voice.

For the second time, Hikari woke to a lot of pain. Her head hurt for real this time, and she could see blood on her hand when she touched her face. There was light coming in from where the impact tore a hole in her armour. Some sort of EM interference seemed to be messing with all of the external feeds, and her control panels were dead.

"Daisy! Get away from there," said another girl's voice. "Giants are dangerous."

_Giants?_ thought Hikari. _I'd better dispel that misconception right now. Besides, I'm not going to be able to get out of here on my own._

She kicked the emergency-release lever with her right foot, forcing the armour's hatch open.

A blonde head came into view. The girl was about the same height as Hikari. She had obviously entered through the damaged canopy of the aircraft, and had a look of concern on her face. "Ivy!" she exclaimed. "She's a fairy, too! Get some help. She's injured!"

"What?!" cried the other voice, possibly Ivy. "How the hell are we going to get her out of this?"

"There's a panel on the outside of the aircraft," said Hikari. "It has a 'rescue' marker pointing to it. There's a lever under it that will forcibly release the canopy."

"We can't read the Giant's language," said Daisy.

"Yellow triangle, roughly where the back of my seat is."

"Ivy, Violet. Did you hear that?"

A few minutes, and an extra couple of fairies, later resulted in the aircraft's canopy being released.

Hikari reached behind her seat, and unhooked her emergency first-aid kit. "There's a bigger one of these behind the aircraft's seat," said Hikari. "You might need to get some people to collect it later."

Daisy nodded. "What is it?"

"Bandages and other things," Hikari replied, as she pulled out some items. "I'll need your help for this next bit."

Daisy leaned inside the hatch. "What do I need to do?"

"As soon as I pull out this chunk of metal, put this pad on, and wrap the bandage tightly around it and my leg. I'll probably pass out again, so I'll have to tell you what some of these other things are."

Hikari pointed out the important items.

"Okay," said Hikari, as she reached past Daisy to the neural-link unit, as the EM interference wasn't affecting it. "Get ready. 3... 2... 1..."

()()()()()()

"...aking up. Get Daisy and Ivy," said a voice.

"Can you hear me? What is your name?" asked a pink-haired fairy.

"Atashi-wa Hikari desu," replied Hikari. _Oh smeg! Did that head injury affect my language-centre?_

Hikari reached towards her right ear. "Atashi-no hon'yaku debaisu-wa doko-ni arimasu-ka?"

"Are you looking for this piece of jewellery?" she asked, handing it over.

"That's better," said Hikari. "I never thought I would ever need to use the 'output' function on this. Hopefully, this headache will go away soon, and I can talk without it."

Daisy, Ivy, and two other fairies entered the room. Daisy was blonde, had green eyes, and wore green overalls, made from a couple of leaves. She wasn't wearing a shirt. Ivy had green hair, green eyes, and was wearing a green dress, again made out of leaves. The next fairy had blue hair and blue eyes, her blue dress was made from flower petals. The fourth fairy could have been Daisy's twin, except she was wearing a yellow flower-petal dress. "I thought Daisy was the only one with no colour-sense," she said, looking Hikari up and down. She and 'blue' were holding Hikari's clothes. "Red hair and green eyes, but black clothing? What's with this pattern? The dragon breathing lightning looks impressive on that shield, but someone screwed up on the crossbones in the background."

"Those are spanners, not bones," replied Hikari. "I'm an engineer." Daisy's eyes lit up

"What's an engineer?" said 'blue' and 'yellow' together. "Also, what are spanners?" said 'yellow'.

"They're tools!" exclaimed Daisy. "She builds things, like Ivy and I do."

A purple-haired fairy entered the room. "Rose, Daisy, Ivy, Violet, Saffron, could you please leave me with the patient for a moment? I have to talk to her alone."

"Yes, Queen Snapdragon."

()()()()()()

"Now the others are out of earshot, what tribe do you lead?" asked Snapdragon. "I recognise a Queen fairy, when I see one."

"I'm a 'tribe' of one," replied Hikari. "My mother was mostly human."

"And your father?"

"Non-existent. Someone tampered with a medical device called a Gene-loom, and it happened to scan my mother by accident. I do find it interesting that my rescuers are the Snapdragon tribe."

"Why is that?"

"My mother's mother's family name is Sturmdrachen."

"Storm-dragon." Snapdragon laughed. "That is an amusing coincidence. So what led you to end up here of all places?"

"I tried to disarm a device, called a nova-bomb, that some people attached to a trading port. All I managed to do was delay the explosion long enough for them to evacuate the place. I was caught in the blast, and had to channel the energy into several, random destination, space/time Gates to try and 'bleed-off' the energy. I ended up several hundred years, and a few dozen realities, away from home. Part of me wishes I'd stayed in the reality with the giant transforming robots."

()()()()()()()

A few weeks later, Hikari's injuries had healed, and she and the others flew back to the wrecked aircraft. Daisy and Ivy had gotten some of her friends to hide it using rapidly-grown vines and some concealment magic.

"The plane is scrap," said Hikari. "I should be able to repair the exo-armour, once I pull this out of it."

"It's too big." said Daisy. "You'd need to be the same size as your exo-thingy to recover your exo-thingy."

"Not a problem," said Hikari. "I gained a spell a few years ago, but it keeps wearing off after a couple of hours." Rings of purple runes appear around Hikari's body, and orbit her tiny frame for a few seconds. Where a six inch fairy once stood, there was now a six foot sylph.

Hikari flew around to where the metal had pierced the aircraft's hull, gripped onto it, and braced her feet on the fuselage. She then pulled as hard as she could. The metal easily moving under her genetically-enhanced strength. She was physically way stronger in her sylph form, but it was currently time-limited, so she needed the exo-armour and its holographic projection systems.

She picked up the exo-armour, and carried it back to the outskirts of the fairies' settlement. The hull damage will probably take the best part of a week to repair. "The biggest problem," she said aloud, "is the this world's mana-field causes EM interference to standard instrumentation."

"I don't understand, said Daisy.

"I have to readjust all of the electronics inside my armour. The exotic particles in that previous world's atmosphere did something similar, but to my spell-casting."

()()()()()()

Almost a month later, and the exo-armour was ready for shakedown tests. Snapdragon and Daisy looked in awe, as the light rippled around its surface, hiding it from view.

"The giants would never find you like that," said Daisy.

"Watch this," commented Hikari, her voice amplified by the armour. The light-field changed again, and standing in front of them was a six-foot-tall version of Hikari, minus the wings.

"She looks like one of the Giants," said Queen Snapdragon.

"Your highness!" called one of the settlement's sentries. "Come quickly! The Giants are here!"

Everyone headed towards where Water-lily indicated. In a giant clearing, humans were erecting tents, and some sort of grandstand facility.

"Humans," commented Hikari. "Those are the 'Giants' you spoke of?"

"One species," replied the queen. "There are several. However, these ones appear here roughly every two years, for some sort of sporting event." She pointed towards a set of three elevated rings that were being carefully positioned. "They call the sport 'Quidditch' and it is quite entertaining."


	2. Chapter 2

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 2

"Look out miss!"

"Coming through!"

Hikari moved aside as various construction crew levitated beams, goal-rings, and other components into place. Over in the middle-distance was a small trunk, which her passenger directed her to go and open. Inside were four balls. Two were inside securing-restraints, and one was in a carefully-crafted niche. "So let me figure this out in terms I'm familiar with," she said. "This red ball here is just an unmodified ball, used for scoring goals, right?"

"Yes, the Quaffle is used for scoring," replied Snapdragon.

"The two black balls in the restraints have Independent Flight, and are programmed to ram the closest target on a broomstick it can detect."

"Strange words, but that is essentially what the Bludgers do."

"And this techno-organic one, with the wings, also has Independent Flight, but also has had its speed and agility enhanced. It is programmed to evade anyone on a broom."

"Essentially a correct description of the Snitch."

"Also, capturing the ...Snitch... ends the match, and gives the team a whole heap of points. Why is it none of you have made your own version of this game? You all seem to enjoy it a lot."

"We cannot keep permanent structures around, just in case it attracts giants," Snapdragon replied.

()()()()()()()

Later that evening, Hikari was wandering amongst the stalls. Most of the fairies had holed up in a compartment one of the construction workers had secretly set up. "He does it for us every time," Snapdragon mentioned off-handedly. Meanwhile, Daisy had decided to 'act as Hikari's personal guide' and was eyeing off all the shiny controls in the cockpit. Hikari also suspected an ulterior motive, as Daisy's clothes seemed to get skimpier every time she saw her.

"At least they accepted the currency I have," said Hikari, as she held an apple in her armour's hand, and 'ate' it, by cutting off pieces with a knife, and teleporting them from the holographic mouth into the cockpit. What Daisy wasn't eating, Hikari transferred to the subspace storage system she kept onboard.

As they were looking at various souvenir stalls, and side-show games, Daisy was startled by Hikari's next comment. "Thank the Allspark! I've been craving these for weeks." Hikari got the stall vendor's attention. "Three, please."

"Meat?" Daisy commented, as Hikari paid for her three chicken kebabs.

"Different dietary needs to you guys, remember," commented Hikari, having already consumed the contents of the first stick. "Why are you looking at me like that? If you don't want any, its fine by me."

A few minutes (and all three kebabs) later, Hikari dropped Daisy back with the rest of the fairies.

"Found out you weren't compatible after all?" said Snapdragon. "Was it the omnivorous diet?"

"Quiet down guys," said Ivy. "The game starts in about five minutes."

"I'll head towards where the humans are," said Hikari. "I don't want to draw attention to the rest of you."

()()()()()()

Hikari found a comfortable spot to watch the game, when she realised she was being keenly observed by a pale girl with white hair. "You're dressed weird," she said.

"The same could be said about you," replied Hikari. "The only excuse I can give for my attire is because I only have two sets of clothes, and one of them doesn't always fit."

"At least it scared the Nargles away," said the girl. "They keep stealing my shoes. I'm Luna, by the way."

"My mother has a cousin called Luna," replied Hikari. "My name is Hikari."

"I've never heard that name before. Is it a Muggle name?"

"My name comes from Japan. It means light, which is ironic, given my aptitude. Also, what's a Muggle?"

"Maybe they have a different name where you're from. It's someone who can't use magic," said an adult, who looked like a 98% certainty to be the girl's father. "Come, Luna. The game is about to start."

"Join us," invited Luna. Hikari followed. The best way to blend in is to be in a crowd.

The crowd was going wild, but Hikari was able to adjust her audio systems, and filter out most of the noise. It was interesting how they needed their broomsticks to fly. "I'm surprised the umpires don't use some other method of flight," she commented. " If that player hadn't deflected the Bludger, the medics would be dragging his unconscious body onto a stretcher right now."

"You talk like a mudblood," sneered a voice next to her.

"That term sounds like an insult," replied Hikari. "Besides, you shouldn't mention mud, when you obviously haven't heard of soap."

"I ought to teach you some manners, you filthy mudblood," he said, grabbing her shoulder, and drawing his wand.

Nobody really saw what happened next. All they saw was the man, unconscious on the ground, with his wand laid out next to him, completely deconstructed.

"Luna," Hikari whispered. "What's a mudblood?"

"I'll tell you later," she replied, with her eyes still on the game.

()()()()()()()

The game had been over for a while. Some attendees were heading to their tents, some were heading towards the pub, others were just enjoying the night sky.

"You asked what a mudblood was," said Luna. "It's a crude term for a witch or wizard born of Muggle parents."

"Maybe I should have shoved that wand where the sun doesn't shine, instead of disassembling it," replied Hikari. "My mother knew some pretty good spells."

"Is she coming to get you soon? My father will probably be looking for me really soon."

"She won't be around any time soon. We were separated when I was ten, by a massive fireball."

"Oh, I'm sorry. What about your father?"

"Don't have one. Nearly had a step-father when I was three, but he bailed when he found out mother was pregnant. Good thing she never let on that we had money."

"There you are," said Luna's father. "Say good night to your friend."

"Good night, Hikari," said Luna. "Where are you staying?"

"In the woods," she replied. "Maybe I'll camp with some fairies."

Luna's father laughed. "That could be eventful. Fairies are dangerous, you know."

"So are humans," replied Hikari. She suddenly looked towards he left, and Flash-stepped, deflecting a red energy burst with the cape she was wearing. She removed the burning cloth and looked around. There were masked wizards, wearing black cloaks, firing off spells indiscriminately. One group had a family of four suspended in the air, and were tormenting them.

"Oi, smegheads!," yelled Hikari. "No spellcasting after 10pm!" She then used her Tractor spell to drag some nearby tent pegs from the ground, and then used Railgun to launch the electrified pegs into the group tormenting the family, again using Tractor to catch them before they hit the ground. "Run for the woods as fast as you can," she commanded, as she raised a deflector grid with her holoprojectors, shielding everyone nearby.

Wizards were still firing spells at fleeing campers, but there was uncertainty in the movements of the group that just found the corpses of there comrades, sparks still coming from the tent pegs lodged in their skulls.

()()()()()()

"You, there! Girl!" called a voice that immediately grated on Hikari's soul. "Just what do you think you are doing?"

Standing in front of her was an oldish woman, who was wearing enough pink to turn a four year old girl off the colour for life. "Well! Explain yourself, girl!" the harridan squawked. "What were you doing over there?!"

"Checking for survivors," replied Hikari. "Your event security sucks."

"You're wearing black! You're one of them!" the harridan's face screwed up in disgust, as she drew her wand.

"You what?" countered Hikari, as she shifted into a fighting-stance, and used her Tractor spell to draw some stray pebbles into the air, and towards her. "If I was one of them, you'd be dead already."

"Why are you pointing your wand at that young lady, Mrs Umbridge?" asked a concerned Auror. "She's been helping us patch up the wounded for the last two hours. She even healed up a couple of people Moody thought were gone"

The harridan half-lowered her wand, and Hikari released her rock collection. "Where are your parents, and where is your wand?" she demanded.

"I don't own a wand," replied Hikari. "As for the other part of your question, I've been on my own since a massive fireball happened when I was ten." _Technically true, without having to go full-disclosure,_ she thought.

"Who taught you your magic," asked a male voice from behind them.

_Damn,_ thought Hikari._ The rear sensors in the exo-armour needs further calibration._ "My mother taught me what she could," she replied. "But her knowledge was limited, due to not knowing about magic until she was thirteen. She was very surprised when she levelled the Irish-Catholic orphanage she was raised in."

()()()()()()

"You could have just given me directions," said Hikari, as they stopped in front of a grubby-looking pub. "The 'Leaky Cauldron'. You should add a couple of health department suspension notices to the door to stop anyone from accidentally walking in."

"It hasn't happened before," replied her escort. "We'll take it under advisement."

"No need to get upset, professor Snape," said Hikari. "It was just a suggestion. Before we head in, there's a detour we're going to have to make."

"No detours," stated Snape. "We're under strict instructions."

"I need funds before we go in there," said Hikari. "As a bonus, you're about to find a source for exotic potion ingredients. The place is literally across the street from here." Hikari dashed across the road.

"Get back here!" Snape called, when Hikari vanished, then reappeared

"Are you coming, or not?"

"Welcome to Trap Street," said Hikari. The only source of off-world items in Britain, short of invading Torchwood, or UNIT. Almost every version of Earth has one. Do not tell the Ministry."

Around twenty minutes later, Hikari was down one particle pistol and two spare antimatter batteries, from her weapons stash, but up several thousand Pounds, some of which went towards samples for Snape's experiments.

"Now I have some money, I can purchase what's on that school list," said Hikari, heading back to the Cauldron.

"Who's the girl?" asked the bartender.

"Just a new student," replied Snape. "Mr Dumbledore asked me to babysit."

Upon exiting the pub's rear door, Snape drew his wand.

"This needs better security," commented Hikari, as she touched the wall. It unfolded without Snape even having shown the sequence of wand-taps required.

"What did you do?"

"I used Decryption. You lot probably have some other name for it."

"You didn't chant it."

_++I don't need to.++_ Snape felt her voice though his mind

"Never do that again," he warned.


	3. Chapter 3

Darkness and a Fairy

(Author's Notes: from this point on, any speech in another language will be in brackets. Any telepathic-type communication will be inside "++" symbols, or similar.)

Chapter 3

Diagon Alley looked just like an early Victorian Era street. Gas lamps lined the shop-fronts, people of different 'classes' generally ignored each other, and people in rags did all of the grunt-work.

"Professor Snape, what are those?" asked Hikari.

"What are what?" enquired Snape.

"Those creatures that look like someone tried to genetically-engineer a race of kicked puppies."

He looked confused for a moment. "Right, Muggle words. They're house-elves."

A nearby house-elf flinched at the realisation a Slytherin was shifting their attention to it.

"Those things are elves?" Hikari sounded incredulous. "I've _**seen**_ elves. I can speak all 6 dialects of elvish. Which gods did their ancestors piss off to end up like this? It looks like a multi-generational curse."

"They know their place," said an arrogant voice. "Just a pity you mud-bloods don't"

"That's enough, Malfoy," said Snape, as he noticed Hikari's fist clench at the word 'mud-blood'. "She says her mother was a witch, so she's at least a half-blood."

Hikari turned to face this 'Malfoy' person. "Let me guess, the heir to some low-level noble family," she said. "I recognise the tone of voice. You know nothing about me, but assume based off appearances."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't be hiding your family crest under that burnt cape," said Snape. "You currently look like a common muggle street-thug, especially with those sunglasses, and the scar over your eye."

"Good point," replied Hikari. She teleported her cape back into storage, made her 'clothes' look freshly laundered, rearranged her 'hair' into a ponytail, and reconfigured her 'sunglasses' to look like regular glasses. "Better?"

"Quite," said Snape.

Malfoy gasped. Snape turned to face him again. "What is it this time?"

"Look at her, sir," he said. "She looks like a scrubbed-up version of Potter."

Snape looked back at his charge. "How does she resemble Harriet Potter, Malfoy? She's at least twelve inches taller, among other things."

"Professor Snape is right there," said Goyle, his eyes focused on two things in particular. "Harriet is definitely smaller." Hikari's eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me, Professor," Hikari spoke quietly. "We still need to go to the bank, before I can purchase those school supplies." She then turned to Goyle. "As for you, if you're so fascinated by breasts, you should ask your friend. The way he's eating his will be bigger than mine by the time he's sixteen."

()()()()()()

As they were headed toward Gringotts, Hikari turned back towards Snape. "What exactly is the purpose of a wand?"

"It has two purposes," he replied honestly. "It is a symbol of status, and a tool to channel your magic, and enhance your spells."

"Does it have to be that size or shape?" she asked. "Couldn't it be a ring or something?"

"I suppose it could," replied Snape. "However, if you were disarmed in a duel, you'd lose the finger. Also, other wizards wouldn't know how strong you were, and might issue a challenge out of ignorance or bravado."

"I'll just have to make sure I don't lose," she replied. _So, the techno-organic circuitry woven though my armour is technically a 'wand' in this world. I'll need to make a decoy, for the 'status' thing._

They arrived at the doors to the bank. "This building is one of the most protected in the whole of Britain," warned Snape. "Do not try anything that could cause me problems."

As Hikari crossed the threshold of the door, the HUD on her systems monitor briefly flashed 'scan detected' before everything went dead.

Snape's jaw dropped. Right where Hikari was standing mere moments ago, now stood a strange suit of armour. A faint voice was coming from inside it. "Note to self. Set mana generator to four, and raise shields before entering this building again." There was a clang from inside, and the chest-plate of the armour swung open, revealing a six-inch tall humanoid. "Hello, Professor Snape," said Hikari. "It looks like you've just learnt another secret today."

As two of the goblin security guards closed in on the pair, Hikari flew around to a panel on the rear of her armour, and opened it. Tiny purple runes briefly glowed around her hand, and the internal lighting of her exposed cockpit lit up. "That should fully-reboot in about ten minutes." Purple runes then orbited her body.

Snape and the goblins were surprised to see a six-foot tall, red-haired Sylph. She was wearing the armour he had occasionally seen Muggle Aurors wearing, except it had that family crest on it.

"The tactical armour is the only human-sized stuff I own," said Hikari. Snape noticed the goblins backing away from her. "(I would like to have a word with your manager)" she spoke in Goblinese. "(That particular spell should not be allowed in a publicly-accessible area unless you put up a warning sign first. What would happen if one of your clients had a pacemaker?)"

"What is all the fuss?" called a voice, from an adjacent room.

"(Manager Griphook, we have a problem.)"

"(What sort of problem?)"

"(Someone who looks a lot like) Titania Sturmdrachen (is in our lobby.)"

Griphook ran for the lobby so fast, you could almost swear he left scorch marks.

()()()()()()

An hour later, and Hikari was walking out of Gringotts with a copy of her family's vault-key, a mind-wiped Snape, and a new servant/Familiar. _So, Nina and myself weren't the first members of our family to dimension-jump,_ Hikari thought. _I'll have to have a chat with Great Grandpa Wolfgang, about his mother, when I get back._

"What happened?" asked Snape.

"I think there was something in the family vault you weren't meant to see," lied Hikari, "They used ...Obliviate... on you."

"Who is she?" he pointed to the blonde woman, hiding behind Hikari. All she appeared to be wearing was Hikari's burnt cape.

"She's my Familiar," replied Hikari. "We're going to get clothes for her.

()()()()()()()

**Flashback**

"(Your vault is here, in the secure area)" said her guide. "(We just need one of these.)" He picked up some sort of rattle/noise-maker.

They turned the corner, to see a white dragon chained to the floor.

If Hikari was a Yuki-onna, the temperature of the room would have reached sub-zero temperatures.

"(Unchain... Her... Right... Now...)" growled Hikari.

"(I-I don't understand)" said the goblin. "(That dragon is bank property.)"

Purple runes surrounded the dragon. A moment later, a naked woman cowered on the floor. The only clue that she wasn't human, were the two broken horns coming from her head.

"(Then, she's my property now,)" stated Hikari. "(Withdraw the appropriate fees from my account. I'm allowed a Familiar at Hogwarts, after all. Just be grateful I saw this, and not my mother.)"

"(Why should we be grateful?)" said another goblin. "(It's only a magical beast.)"

"(Because my little sister is what you would call a dragon animagus)" replied Hikari. "(My mother would have turned this bank into a) radioactive (crater, surrounded by a plain of glass.)"

**End Flashback**

()()()()()()

"These clothes feel weird," said Kemuri. "Do I really have to wear them?"

"Yes you do,"said Hikari.

"This body feels weird," said Kemuri. "What is the purpose of these things on my chest?"

"They generate milk, to feed your young," replied Hikari. "They also attract potential mates."

"Oh. Why do I have this jewellery? If I'm your slave, I shouldn't have something so valuable."

"The pendant is technically an ownership tag. If anyone messes with you, they have to answer to me."

"But I'm a mighty dragon?"

"Who's more dangerous? You or me?"

"...you, mistress..." Kemuri whispered. "Why do I have this other device?"

"It's my translation device. You'll need it more than I do. Dragon grunts and roars would only draw attention."

"Are you done yet?" complained Snape, from outside the fitting room. "People are already going to comment about your choice of Familiar. Why couldn't you have just chosen an owl, or a cat?"

_Because it would instinctively try to eat me, the moment I stepped out of my armour,_ thought Hikari. "Are you saying the heir of the Sturmdrachen family isn't worthy of having a dragon as a Familiar? You said appearances were important. I do believe I need to procure books next. Kemuri, no burning anyone without my orders."

Snape noticed Lucius Malfoy signalling him from outside.

"I suppose that I can trust you to make your way back to Hogwarts on your own. I have some business to attend to."

()()()()()()

Hikari and Kemuri walked through the gap between platforms 9 and 10, to witness the organised chaos of families being loaded onto a train, for the first day of the school year. There were plenty of parents giving young 11-year-olds tearful goodbyes. Many of the older students had congregated into their little niche groups.

A cluster of redheads, obviously members of a large family were talking with a couple of girls. One of them had a scar above her right eye, and was probably the 'Potter' girl Malfoy mentioned.

Speaking of Draco Malfoy, he could be seen because of his henchmen, looming above the others his own age. Not that she was one to talk about 'looming' her exo-armour (and Sylph form) were around six feet tall. She was going to have the body of a curvy sixteen-year-old for the next five or six hundred years, if the rest of her family was anything to go by, even if she was only six inches tall.

He was sneering at anyone that he deemed 'unworthy' of whatever values his parents instilled in him.

...and he spotted her... "Oh look! Another redhead wizard who is barely better than a Muggle!" he called, drawing attention first to him, then to her.

"Hi, Hikari!" Luna waved both her arms to get her attention. "Over here!" Hikari headed over. "Who's your friend?" she asked.

"Luna," Hikari whispered. "This is Kemuri. She's my Familiar."

"You can't have a person as a Familiar," she whispered back.

"Actually, you're not supposed to use other humans as Familiars. Kemuri is a dragon."

"I didn't know they could be Familiars. Interesting choice. Dumbledore has a phoenix."

()()()()()()()

Luna, Hikari and Kemuri had a carriage to themselves, so Hikari decided to spend some time outside of her armour. Luna was briefly surprised to see she was a fairy, but didn't care as long as the Nargles stayed away. Currently, she was in Sylph-form, with Kemuri cuddling up to her. All three of them were eating food from the cart.

"Why don't you stay this way all the time, Mistress?" asked Kemuri.

"My natural magic resistance dispels it after a few hours," replied Hikari. "Hopefully, the more I use it, the longer I can make it last." _First Daisy, and now Kemuri. I'm starting to wonder if I'm Shaft's reincarnation._

The carriage door slammed open. "It's Loony Lovegoo- what is that girl doing to you, O'Reilly?"

It was Malfoy. Kemuri looked towards the source of the voice. "Jealous?" she asked. "Maybe you'll attract a mate or two, if you ditch your boyfriends. A girl won't let just anyone fertilise her eggs."

"What the fu-" WHACK! Malfoy was slapped over the back of the head by Snape.

"Mister Malfoy, Mister Crabbe, Mister Goyle. You should be changing into your robes. Miss Lovegood, Miss O'Reilly you and your ...servant... should too."

()()()()()()

Hikari and Kemuri sat through the Sorting Hat ceremony. Hikari was grateful Professor McGonagall spared her the embarrassment of being lumped in with the eleven-year-olds. Unfortunately, it meant they didn't have a house assignment yet. While Principal Dumbledore was announcing some inter-school event they were hosting, McGonagall took them aside.

"We're going to sort you into your House, up in Principal Dumbledore's office. While we're at it, we're going to be discussing your 'living arrangements' with Kemuri.

"That's easy," said Kemuri. "I'm sharing Mistress's bed!"

"Actually," said Hikari, as they reached the gryphon statue. "The living arrangements _and House_ both need to be discussed." Hikari opened her exo-armour.

"You definitely won't be welcome in Slytherin, looking like that, will you?" she dead-panned.


	4. Chapter 4

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 4

As I sit, in my Sylph form, waiting in Dumbledore's office, I can see the look of disapproval on Professor McGonagall's face.

"Is that look because I don't look human, or is it something else?" I ask, aware that Kemuri is trying to get to second base with me.

"Your choice of Familiar is unbecoming of a lady," she replied.

"So it would have been alright if I was some hikikomori male?" I countered.

"She means shut-in," said Kemuri. "This translator thing is pretty good."

"Good girl, Kemuri." I replied, patting her head. "Once I teach you how to read, you'll be able to use the optical component for something other than looking prettier." Kemuri seems to like head-pats.

"Sorry we're late, " said Dumbledore, as he walked in. "I was lost in conversation with the other two schools' Principals. The other house heads should be up in a moment."

A few seconds later, Professor Snape entered the office. _Smeg!_ _How do I go about the next part?_

Noticing my distress, Kemuri pulls my head into her chest, in an attempt to calm me.

_++Kemuri! I can't breathe.++_

_++Sorry, Mistress!++_

She releases me, and I notice the males blushing, and McGonagall's eyes had narrowed.

I turn towards the Potion's Master. "Professor Snape, remember your memory gap? You requested it when we were in Gringotts Bank. You said that I needed to send you out of the office, and Principal Dumbledore would know why."

I hand him a letter. It's the one he gave me this morning, at the bank. Snape reads it, and leaves.

"I suppose we had better sort you into your House," said Dumbledore, picking up the Sorting Hat.

The wrinkles on that thing really did look like a face. For the first time ever, I actually understood what they meant by 'creeped out'.

"It has been a very long time since a Sturmdrachen stepped foot in Hogwarts," said the Sorting Hat. "I see you have your ancestor's unconventional taste in Familars. She had a Succubus."

"So that's who Great Uncle Ouroboros got his taste in women from," I reply. "He's shacked-up with a Succubus, and his ship's System Holographic Interface Program is a Water Nymph. No wonder he wanted to show me how to upgrade a Remote Projection Unit to Hard-light." The hat gave a chuckle.

"I'm guessing that's why you're not entirely human," said the Sorting Hat.

"I wish," I laughed. "I got this wonderful Sylph body using the equivalent of your Animagus spell. My 'normal' fairy body came about through an accident. When Great Great Grandma Titania comes back from wherever she wandered off to, she'd laugh at the irony."

"Let's get on with choosing your House," McGonagall said, impatiently. Probably because Kemuri's hands had started wandering again.

"It's already done," replied the Sorting Hat. "Titania Sturmdrachen was a founder. She's not in the official records, because two of the founders felt she had a 'questionable' history. Her spells are the reason Hogwarts regularly reconfigures itself."

"Define questionable," asked Mr Flitwick.

"It would either be her being a Timelord, or being in a polyamorous relationship with a guy and two girls," I replied. "Humans can be weird about some things."

"If there was a Stumdrachen House in Hogwarts, where is its dormitory?" Dumbledore asked. "I have never been in it."

"Begging your pardon, sir," said one of the House-elves, that just happened to be cleaning up nearby. "You have all been there many times. The Stumdrachen dormitories are known unofficially as the Room of Requirement, sir."

"I'm guessing it's like any other rarely-used area in a building," I say. "No one was using it, so it became storage."

"You can stay in the Gryffindor dorms for the time being," said McGonnagall. "Someone your age shouldn't be alone, and definitely not with a frisky whatever she is."

"Dragon," I supply.

"Right. Thank you. Frisky dragon."

"Sounds like a band name," I jokingly reply. "I'll try to not upset my room mates."

"They still haven't stopped serving food yet," said McGonnagall. "You had both better go down and eat something."

()()()()()()

"Hikari! Over here!" called Luna. I head over to the table.

"May I eat now, Mistress?" Kemuri asked?

"Go ahead," I tell her. "You don't need my permission to eat at mealtimes."

"Why is she acting like that?" asked the red haired girl sitting on the other side of the table.

"She's Hikari's Familiar, Hermione," said Luna. "Hikari, did they sort you into a House yet?"

"Sort of," I reply, after putting my food down. "We're staying with the Gryffindors for now."

"Who's staying with us?" asked a voice from behind me.

"Hi, Harry," said Luna. "This is Hikari. Harry and Hermione are in the same year as you."

I turn around. Harry was smaller than the average 14-year-old girl, her glasses looked like they'd been repaired by magic several times. She kept unconsciously tucking her hair back behind her ear, and she had a scar above her right eye. "Are you really fourteen?" she asked. "You're awfully tall."

"You're awfully small for, fourteen," I counter. "Everyone is different."

"But you're at least 180cm tall," said Hermione. "That's tall, even for an adult male. Wouldn't you have heart problems at that size?"

"They both seem to be working fine," I reply, off-handedly. _OOPS!_

"Both?!" exclaim Harriet and Hermione.

"That can't be right," says Hermione.

"No. She has two," said Kemuri. "I hear them whenever I snuggle up to her."

"One of the girls at Beauxbatons is half-Veela," said Luna. "What's so odd about us having a fairy-queen? Neither of you noticed the wings."

"It's the meeting of the freaks!" called out an annoying voice. "Not breastfeeding your pet, O'Reilly?"

"Ooh! Can I?" Kemuri asked, hopefully.

_++Later.++_ "Zip it. Malfoy! Shouldn't you be scouring the first-years for a henchman who can count past ten without needing to remove his shoes, or can write his own name best two out of three?" I reply.

"Why are you really here?" Harriet asked. "Almost everyone else is either drooling over the Beauxbatons girls, or fawning over the Durmstrang boys."

Malfoy looks around, to make sure no one else is around. "Actually," he says quietly. "I wanted to find out about something, without Crabbe and Goyle finding out. What did you do to those Death-eaters at the Quidditch finals, I saw you using magic without a wand, _and you didn't chant_."

"That's something you're not ready for," I reply. "I could lie, and say it was fairy magic, but to be honest, I don't like you." I cast a basic spell circle, in the air, above my palm. "I don't think you can advance this far, with your current mindset."

"If you're that good with magic, why are you even here?" he asked.

"Umbridge and Fudge didn't give me much of a choice. Even though I passed my GL-649 test, and am legally an adult, wizarding law doesn't recognise that Certificate, and considers me as under-age, so here I am, because 'all witches and wizards under eighteen must attend school'."

()()()()()()

"Miss O'Reilly. Keep your Familiar under control," said McGonagall. "The House Prefect issued a complaint."

"That's interesting," I reply. "Because she actually slept all night, since I removed the enchantment that forced her to stay awake twentyfour seven. I slept in my pilot's seat. Haven't you noticed? She's still asleep in my bed. I think the boys' imaginations kept them awake."

"What do you mean 'you removed the enchantment' from her?" McGonagall demanded.

"Grab any magic item you don't mind losing," I say. "I'll demonstrate."

She passed over an old newspaper, the mugshot of Black screaming silently out of the page.

Purple runes orbit my hands, and I suspend the newspaper in the air with Tractor. I then cast Field Collapse on it.

The newspaper became completely mundane, every trace of magic removed from it.

"I can do this with surgical precision, or over a wide area," I tell her. "My mother once forcibly collapsed the magic field of an entire planet. By the way, I really should go have breakfast before classes start."

"Very well, Miss O'Reilly. I'll find out who complained to the Prefect, and have words with them.

()()()()()()

The downside of living in a boarding school was it was almost impossible to skip classes.

Because I don't have a formal education, Dumbledore was coerced by the Ministry into making me attend first year classes. He assured me that he would convince them to make the equivalent of a Recognised Prior Learning Certificate by the end of the month.

Right now the eleven-year-olds in Charms class are staring at me. I don't know if it's because of my size, because of my shape, or because of my wand.

About my wand, by the way. You won't get this bad boy from Ollivander's. The main body is a 'Trap Street Special' also known as a black-market Dalek Blaster. I then used craft glue, pink glitter, and star stickers, to make a big old 'fuck you' to that Pink Harridan.

"Okay, class. Take out your wands, and try to levitate your feathers," said the teacher. "Remember Wingardium Leviosa."

"Vector Sigma," I groan. "It's just Tractor with a different chant, isn't it? This shouldn't even need a wand." The students either side of me give me strange looks.

"Miss O'Reilly!" exclaims the teacher. "Just lift the feather."

"Fine," I say, as I use Tractor on the feather. "Do you want me to put your desk down?"


	5. Chapter 5

Darkness and a Fairy

chapter 5

"Hey, Hikari!" Hermione called out. "Why were you in the first year Charms class?"

Hikari went over to where Hermione, Ron, and Harriet were standing. "I'm stuck with the first years until the baka Ministry acknowledges that I have been trained in at least some magic."

"Why were you so late coming out of class?" Ron asked. "Did your feather explode.?"

"No, but the teacher's patience did. I lost 15 points, for refusing to use the correct spell name, or chanting. However, I was awarded 10 points for demonstrating that, with practice, a desk can be lifted without using a wand."

"How can a spell have a wrong name?" Ron asked.

"Apparently, they think it's possible," replied Hikari. "It's not my fault I was taught different names for my spells. Do you guys know why the area around the Goblet is extra-crowded?"

"Fred and George claim they've found a foolproof way to get past the age-restriction barrier," replied Hermione.

A few minutes later, a visibly-aged set of Weasley twins were on their way to the infirmary.

"There you are, O'Reilly," said the Slytherin prefect. "Get your mud-blood ass to Dumbledore's office."

()()()()()()

Hikari entered Dumbledore's office, to find he wasn't there. As she was waiting, she idly looked around the office, when something on his desk caught her eye.

"Vector Sigma!" Hikari started laughing. "Whoever did this deserves the baka-no baka award!"

"What's so funny?" Dumbledore asked, as he came down the stairs from his personal library.

"This is," replied Hikari picking up the object. It was a small stone, with a triangular rune carved into it.

"Hey! That's dangerous!" Dumbledore exclaimed, then looked confused. "Why didn't the curs affect you?" he raised his hand. It was black, almost stone-like.

"Want me to fix that for you?" Hikari asked. "I'm wearing my armour. Curses don't work on it."

"Why were you laughing at that?" Dumbledore asked, as purple runes orbited his hand.

"You can't see the magic coming off it?" Hikari asked. "I can't believe someone was stupid enough to bind a soul-fragment to this. It's the equivalent of stripping a Vulcan, to make a musket."

"I'm guessing that's Muggle-talk for something important," he commented.

"Pretty much," Hikari replied, as she stepped out of her armour, and transformed. "Your elder-wood wand, and Harriet's camouflage cloak have similar energy signatures." The edges of Hikari's wings started to glow. "I've seen this signature before." Hikari held the stone in her hand. "I'll need to physically hold this to remove the fragment from the signature."

Dumbledore's eyes widened, as he saw the patterns that ran along the edges of Hikari's wings. "W-where have you seen this 'signature' before?" there was a mixture of fear and worry in his voice.

"The first time I ever used magic," Hikari explained. "It was while I was building the battle computer for a prototype transforming mecha. I had inadvertently used materials from an unmarked grave to make the ceramics in the fabrication process. I bound the soul of the murdered girl that was buried in the grave to the mecha. Here! Soul-fragment removed." She tossed the stone to Dumbledore. "Do you want this fragment stored or destroyed?"

"How can you be so casual about Dark Magic?" Dumbledore accused. "You disassembled a Horcrux as if it was a mere trinket."

"Magic is neither good nor evil," replied Hikari. "It is the Mage that determines that. My resurrecting the murdered girl led us to uncovering an international kidnapping ring, saving 250 girls from both untimely deaths, and lives worse than death. While the police were arresting the kidnappers, a guy dressed in black personally thanked me. He granted me the spell that lets me become a Sylph. The stone, wand, and cloak sort of remind me of that guy."

Dumbledore went pale.

()()()()()()

Hikari wandered the halls. Her comments had obviously rattled Dumbledore, and he said he needed time to think about things. She destroyed the soul-fragment, at his request, and left the office, with the intention of finding the Room of Requirement.

"There you are, Mistress!" Kemuri called out. "I slept for soooo long! I'm hungry."

"Well, it is nearly lunchtime. Let's head for the Great Hall."

Because Hikari was no longer actively looking, a door materialised in the wall next to them. "So that's how it works," Hikari commented. She pushed open the door.

"What the hell?" Malfoy was behind Hikari, when the door opened. Instead of the usual three 'choices' of junk-room, empty room, and study-area, two of the the three of them were greeted by what was very obviously someone's private suite. "Who's room is this?" he asked.

"Seems obvious to me," Hikari replied, pointing to the coat-of-arms on the wardrobe. It showed a dragon breathing lightning, on a black background. "It belonged to Titania Sturmdrachen. I guess it's now mine."

"Look how big the bed is," said Kemuri. "You could fit at least four people on it."

"Kemuri, you're drooling. We'd better get lunch," said Hikari.

"Why does this room even exist?" Malfoy asked.

"If you have an unedited version of the history of Hogwarts, you'd have your answer," Hikari replied, as she threw something inside. "Let's go eat. You'd better find your friends."

"Can we sleep in there tonight, Mistress?" Kemuri asked, as Hikari closed the doors.

"Sleep might be included in tonight's activities," Hikari replied. Malfoy's face went red. "You're not invited, Malfoy."

()()()()()()()

"So you're the infamous Hikari O'Reilly! I'm Lucius Malfoy." He reached his hand out in greeting.

_I'm guessing Draco found a history book, and you read it,_ Hikari thought. "To what do I owe the honour of this visit?"

"I thought I should meet with the first member of the Sturmdrachen family to step foot in Hogwarts in how many generations? Thirty? Thirty-five?"

"Four," replied Hikari.

"I wasn't shown anything about a Stumdrachen being there in 1880. Puffy! You stupid Elf! You said there haven't been any Sturmdrachens since the founding!" he yelled.

"Begging your pardon, sir," replied the house-elf. "I'll punish myself right away. However all of the records are correct. Titania Sturmdrachen helped to found Hogwarts, and then left around 1000 years ago. None of the records say why."

"Salazar and Rowena drove her out," Hikari replied. "They both had issues with her lifestyle choices. Did Puffy tell you about those?"

"No," he replied. "Puffy! What else haven't you been telling me?" His face suddenly went red, as Puffy whispered some things in his ear, so Narcissa and Draco couldn't hear.

"Sounds like he only told you some of it," said Hikari. " Puffy didn't have access to Titania's personal library. Did he tell you about Salazar's mother?"

"No, he did not"

"Salazar was the 0.01% chance of a Lamia having a male offspring. Titania was also shacking up with her. Rowena used the fact his decision-making was compromised when she was involved."

"Puffy, I'll pick Narcissa up. Draco, could you help Puffy carry your father?"

()()()()()()

Everyone was assembled in the Great Hall. Dumbledore, and the Principals of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons were standing on the podium, with the Goblet in front of them.

"We will now announce the representatives for the Tri-Wizard Tournament," announced Dumbledore. He waved his wand over the trophy.

First, the trophy produced blue flames, and spat out a name. "Viktor Krum!" The Durmstrang students, and Slytherin house let out a massive cheer.

The flames then became red, and released another name. "Fleur Delacour!" The Beauxbatons girls, and Ravenclaw house jumped up and down with excitement.

The trophy's flames changed colour again, this time to yellow. Cedric Diggory was chosen, to the adulation of Hufflepuff house.

...then something went wrong...

As they were about to end the ceremony, the trophy spat out red sparks, and put out a fourth name, to everyone's confusion.

"Harriet Potter!"

Everyone turned to face the girl, refusing to believe her protests that she didn't enter her name, Dumbledore's calls for order falling on deaf ears.

_**EEEEEEEK!**_ The terrified scream of one of the students got everyone's attention.

The trophy had purple flames surrounding it, and a fifth name flew out. Durmstrang's Principal, being the closest, caught the piece of paper. "Hikari O'Reilly!"

()()()()()()()

"Explain yourselves!" All three Principals were pissed. Hikari and Harriet were in Dumbledore's office. The house heads were behind them, so neither of them could see, but almost certainly infer, their expressions.

"I swear that I didn't put my name in there," protested Harriet, tears forming in her eyes.

"Principal Karloff could read my name. That proves I didn't write it," replied Hikari. "Out of the possible suspects, bear in mind Kemuri is illiterate."

"We can't do anything about it now," said Moody, walking in with the trophy. "It's a binding contract, and I have no evidence that the trophy was tampered with. We're stuck."

"Harriet, Hikari, you're dismissed" Dumbledore asked. "Hikari, I'll need to talk to you alone later."

"I'll be in the Sturmdrachen dormitories, when you're ready," replied Hikari. "You might need to knock."

Hikari and Harriet left the office.

"You hinted that you might know who put your name in," said Harriet.

"I can think of a few people," said Hikari. "It just depends on their literacy level."

()()()()()()

The door knocked as Hikari was leaving her private shower. "Come in, Principal Dumbledore."

"Here's the slip that had your name on it. Notice anything strange?'

Hikari looked at the slip. "It's in Japanese."

"We all saw it in English," said Dumbledore. "Except for Mr Flitwick. He saw it in Goblinese."

"Can Moody figure it out? Isn't he an Auror, who specialises in Dark Magic?"

"So do you."

"Yeah. I already have it narrowed down to one suspect but I really hope I'm wrong. That rock from this morning bears his mark."


	6. Chapter 6

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 6

In a small cottage, a shape, huddled on a chair was worried. "Wormtail, Crouch, find out about the 'late transfer' to Hogwarts. The Ministry seem determined to keep her away from anything beyond first-year classes, and I'd like to know why."

"Yes my lord," said Pettigrew. "I'll get on it right away."

"I'll find out what I can directly, my lord," replied Crouch.

()()()()()

With so many people causing Harriet trouble, Hikari suggested that she stayed in the Stumdrachen dormitory.

Hermione, Luna, and Ginny agreed, on the condition they were there too. A few extra mattresses were dragged into Hikari's bedroom. Hermione, Ginny, Harriet, Luna, and a couple of other Ravenclaw girls, and a few Hufflepuffs, all brought snacks and a few games, effectively making it one big slumber-party.

Hikari's armour was currently being used as an impromptu sound-system, Bohemian Rhapsody was currently playing though the voice amplifier. One of the Ravenclaw girls was holding a data-crystal in her hand. "You're telling me that plugging this into that," she pointed towards the computer terminal that used to be hidden behind the bookshelves, "will unlock the equivalent of a library's worth of books?"

"Or about two dozen music files," commented Hikari. "Unfortunately, I've found out the hard way not to leave music in a vehicle for too long. I lost my Beethoven collection because of that Universal Law."

"What Universal Law is that?" Hermione asked.

"The original version of it was 'Leaving any cassette tape in the vehicle for more than a week. Three days, if it's under the driver's seat, will turn it into Queen's Greatest Hits'. When that Universal Law was discovered, CDs and data-crystal tech hadn't been discovered. It turns out it also affects them, but takes a little longer."

Harriet suddenly gasped in pain, touching her scar.

"Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked, her voice concerned.

"He's trying to break through again," she gasped, the pain obviously on her face.

"What's wrong with her?" Hikari asked.

"Voldemort's mind sometimes intrudes into Harriet's" said Luna.

"I know that feeling," Hikari replied, sympathetically.

"How can you possibly know what it's like to have someone's memories intrude into yours," Ginny hissed, angrily.

"More than you'd realise," Hikari stated. "Hermione. You and Harriet are relatively familiar with science and technology. I came from a Gene-loom that had been tampered with. About fourteen years ago, my mother was investigating the robbery of a hospital facility, and she was accidentally scanned by it. Some self-centred bastard wanted to make his own fairy garden, so out I came, a six-inch-tall not-quite-clone of my mother, including all 104 years of her memories, neatly partitioned away, like one of those laptops you get with the pre-loaded software."

"Hang on," replied Hermione. "Does this mean you're effectively 118?"

"Not really. _My_ memories are my own. Mother's just occasionally 'leak' through. I have been physically equivalent to a sixteen-year-old since I was 'born' and will remain so, for the rest of my life." She looked closer at Harriet. "I can see the soul-fragment melded to her, but I can't remove it without killing her. Harriet, if you let me, I can find a way to help you block him out."

"Do it," Harriet replied.

"Let me have a look," Hikari touched her forehead to Harriet's, causing a jealous yelp from Kemuri.

…less than thirty seconds later...

"Dumbledore, you Spawn of Unicron! I've got some choice words for our Principal. Most of them would require the shift-key, and top row of the typewriter, if anyone ever wrote about these events."

()()()()()

Dumbledore didn't recognise the language, but the profanity could be determined by sparks forming in the air. "Calm down, Hikari! What has got you so riled up?"

Hikari calmed her anger from eleven, to seven. "You deliberately left Harriet in that environment! Were you trying to create a psychological dependence on you and your allies?"

"I-it's not like that! I swear!"

"You're lying," she growled. "You wanted a timed sacrificial pawn, to take down Voldemort. Did you ever stop to think about the potential risk, given your own family's history?"

"I don't understand."

"Ariana."

Hikari paused, as if listening to a voice.

"...Credence..." she whispered.

Dumbledore gave an involuntary shiver.

"There was an 80% chance Harriet's environment would turn her into an Obscurial. You would have given Voldemort an immortal horcrux, you moron."

"I didn't think of that," Dumbledore whispered.

()()()()()

Hikari and Kemuri were making out on the rampart of the observation tower, under the moonlight, when Kemuri broke off from the kiss, and sniffed the air. "Can you smell them, Mistress?"

Hikari turned towards the direction of the wind. "I can see them," she replied. "Five large covered cages have been transported to that clearing."

A few minutes later, they were walking into the clearing. "Hello, Hikari." Hagrid moved to intercept the pair. "Now, don't do anything rash."

"Who are the girls?" one of the wizards asked.

"Ah! Charlie, this is Hikari," replied Hagrid. "The person hiding behind her is Kemuri. She's a dragon."

"Pull the other one, Haggers!" called a voice, from behind one of the cages.

"I smell eggs," said Kemuri. "The covers must be there to calm the mothers."

"You're right, young lady," said Charlie. "These covers are to keep the nesting dragons calm. Dragons are aggressively protective of their eggs."

"That's because it's so hard to find a compatible mate." Kemuri replied. "Some of us make fake nests to keep undesirable males from trying to mate with us. However, my mistress gave me a form that's more compatible with hers, and won't attract unwanted males."

"What?" said the dragon-handlers.

"Mistress used magic to turn me into a mammal."

"You're closer to a monotreme," Hikari stated. "You still lay eggs."

"What spell did you use?" asked Charlie. "I've never heard of that sort of spell."

"That's complicated," replied Hikari. "My spells have different names to yours. My mother always called it Platonic-resonance Conversion. It shifts the subject's DNA to the new species, while retaining its soul. In this case, I got myself an affection-starved hottie."

"I'm not starved, Mistress. I've got you."

"How is it she can speak?" one of the other handlers asked. "Dragons in the wild only concentrate on the three Fs."

"If you haven't noticed, Kemuri is the same," Hikari says, as Kemuri's hands start wandering again, causing the male handlers to blush.

"I see," said the group's only female handler. "I swear I can hear grunts and growls coming from her, but I can also hear what she's saying as regular words."

"You're correct." Hikari replied, indicating towards the translator. "That device has both magical and technological components, that converts one language to another."

"A useful device," said Charlie. "The veterinarians at the sanctuary would have a much easier job, if they had some of those."

The sound of a twig snapping caused a, currently uncovered, dragon to startle. It reflexively swung its tail, skewering one of the handlers.

"Fuck! You two calm her down, before she flames someone! How are we going to break this to Rob's parents?"

"Put as much firewood as you can on that fire there, and you won't have to," Hikari said calmly.

Hagrid, the handlers, the dragons, and two sets of unseen eyes, watched as Hikari placed the body next to the fire, and did _something_. Purple runes orbited the fire, the body, and both of her hands. "I'm running three spells at the same time," Hikari stated. "Stasis Field, Structural Repair, and Energy Conversion. With this injury, everything should be fine ...right ...about ...now."

The fire was gone, and Rob sat up, his injuries nothing more than a slight scar. "Is that what you did for my sister, at the Quiddich game?" he said. "I remember the Aurors saying a witch used an unknown healing spell on her."

"Why is the fire out?" Hagrid asked.

"I converted the fire's energy into life energy," Hikari replied. "It's something mother taught me."

"Dark Magic," whispered one of the handlers.

Hikari laughed. "That wasn't Dark Magic. I could have used Dark Magic, if you wanted me to. I could have dragged a week or two from each of your lives, to give the same result."

"Nope, nope," he replied. "The other spell was good."


	7. Chapter 7

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 7

It was time for the first task. Each wizard had to collect a golden 'egg' from the nest of a brooding dragon. The event reporter seemed to be too intent on creating tabloid-style romance and/or scandal stories, Hikari had to threaten to curse her to only be able to read, write, and speak in reverse, before she would leave. As soon as she was gone, Viktor, Cedric, and Fleur found out about Hikari's 'secret' as Dumbledore broke the news to her that using the armour was technically against the rules.

The tournament coordinators then entered the room to determine which order the contestants would retrieve their objective.

Viktor achieved his goal reasonably quickly, as did Fleur and Cedric. Harriet took longer, due to the chains on her dragon breaking. She was almost killed, before she used her superior agility to stun the creature, and achieve her goal.

While the audience was thrilled by the first three attempts, and on the edge of their seats with the fourth. They were confused with the fifth contestant's performance. It was simultaneously the fastest and most 'showy' of the five, but it also seemed so anti-climatic.

Rings of glowing, purple, runes surrounded the dragon, causing the audience to 'ooh!' with awe. A few seconds later, a naked woman was frantically trying to hide her body with her wings. The contestant then 'spoke' a series of grunts and growls, and the woman took the false egg out of her nest, meekly handing it over to Hikari.

Later that night, the still-human dragon was cuddled-up to Charlie Weasley, the female dragon-handler was laughing her head off, as she was the only one who knew the 'eggs' in the dragon's nest were just rocks.

()()()()()

Daphne Greengrass was wandering around, near the school's Quidditch field, when she noticed the new girl, O'Reilly. She was sitting down, leaning against a tree, with Kemuri, the dragon-girl, cuddled up to her.

O'Reilly appeared to be reading a book, made out of light, while absent-mindedly stroking Kemuri's hair. O'Reilly stopped and pointed Kemuri towards a particular paragraph of what she was reading. She gave a small chuckle. "Lethbridge-Stewart is one shrewd bastard in this timeline."

"You know I can't read Mistress," replied Kemuri.

"This is a section of the Shadow Proclamation treaty. It declares Earth as a class three protected world. This section of the treaty looks like a Dead-man-switch protocol."

"A what?"

"Basically, if a specific procedure isn't performed during a set time-frame, the planet loses its 'protected' status. It looks like it was included in the treaty around thirteen years ago."

"Good morning Hikari," greeted Daphne. "I haven't seen you in classes."

"Hi Daphne," replied Hikari. "I'm stuck in first-year classes, because of bureaucratic nonsense. They won't move forward, until Moody submits his report. Just because my magic is different, the Ministry are paranoid. Moody has yet to interview me. I'm guessing his duties are taking up a lot of his time."

"Why have you been avoiding the Slytherins?"

"The 'more influential' members of your House have made it perfectly clear that I'm not 'normal enough' to associate with the rest of you. Just speaking to me is probably going to cause you problems later."

"What? I saw you helping the Aurors rescue casualties. Your magic might look a bit strange, but you're the best healer I've ever seen. You even healed a couple of people Moody and the others thought were unsavable."

"The fact my magic is different has made everyone wary. It's how Kemuri and I interact that they aren't happy with."

"...horns... now I understand. Your magic is different. You're into girls, and she isn't human. Any one of those would cause issue with most Slytherin families."

Daphne sat down next to the two girls. "By the way, my Dad wants you to visit some time. He's always been fascinated with how muggle Aurors ..._police?_... do their jobs without magic, and he seems to be under the impression that you come from a police family."

"He's pretty observant," replied Hikari. "Mum's uncle, and one of her cousins, work in law enforcement. My mother was military, but was put on indefinite leave when I came about."

"O'Reilly!"

The three girls turned their heads, to see Draco. He was panting, as if he had sprinted all the way from the Slytherin common room. "MacMillan and the others found out you helped the Aurors at the Quidditch finals. MacMillan's father died during that incident."

"Hikari's a Healer," said Daphne. "She was helping evacuate and rescue survivors."

"I used a couple of offensive spells during the incident," said Hikari.

"MacMillan has gathered at least two dozen people," said Draco. "They're out for blood. Please don't do anything dangerous."

"Draco's right," said Daphne. "We should find somewhere to lay low until this blows over."

"_**CRUCIO!**_"

Draco turned, as he heard the first syllable of the spell, to find Hikari had somehow gone from sitting under the tree, to standing between himself, and the spell MacMillan had cast at _him_.

Red light rippled around her, but she was otherwise unaffected by the spell.

_Did she cast a chant-less Protego spell?_ Draco wondered.

"Malfoy, you traitor!" Goyle shouted "Once we've dealt with her, you, Greengrass, and that non-human whore are next."

"Whoops!" Kemuri whispered, as a bench-chair slammed into two of the students. "They've just given Mistress permission to use more than defensive countermeasures."

"She threw the bench?" Daphne's eyes widened. "She can cast multiple spells at the same time?"

Draco and the two girls moved behind what cover the tree provided, as stray spells exploded around them. "How can she be a combat witch at fourteen?" he asked.

"_**AVADA KEDAVRA!**_"

The top half of the tree shattered.

"Are they insane?!" Daphne exclaimed in genuine fear.

()()()()()()

Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall came running for the Quidditch field the moment they heard some students were fighting. Just as they were getting there, they saw a green beam of light. There was no mistaking what spell that was.

What they weren't expecting was what came next.

_**EXTERMINATE!**_

The voice had a 'metallic' sound, and was 'felt' rather than heard. A fraction of a second later, the colours near the fighting seemed to 'invert' and six students dropped to the ground, obviously dead. In the centre of the group was a pile of smoking ash. The rest of them, suddenly broke and ran. Dumbledore saw Hikari holding her strange wand. The end of it was still glowing.

Her 'human' illusion suddenly collapsed, revealing her armour. Some sections were severely damaged. What wasn't smoking was throwing out sparks. The front hatch was kicked open, and she emerged, cradling her right arm. "Remind me to recalibrate my defence grid," she said. "Four smegging Killing Curses! Four! I can't even draw enough mana to become a Sylph! Are Draco and the others alive?" She collapsed, unconscious. McGonagall caught her, before she hit the ground.

"What the fuck was that?" McGonagall asked, her usual composure gone due to the shock of what she saw. "Where did she learn a spell that can kill six people at the same time?"

"Seven," whispered Kemuri. "The ash-pile used to be a human."

"She didn't grab he wand, until about six Unforgivable Curses into their attack," said Daphne. "She was protecting us. MacMillan went insane."

()()()()()

Madam Pomfrey was surprised. The new student was actually a fairy!

"Are you telling me this little one took four Killing Curses, and only suffered from magic-depletion and a fractured arm?"

"She was wearing armour," said McGonagall.

Hikari stirred. "How long was I out?"

"About ten minutes," replied Snape.

"That means I've missed the resurrection-window for Goyle, Smetherington, Harris, Smiggs, Thornleigh, and Greenwood," she stated. "I'm surprised Moody wasn't with you."

"He had important business at the Ministry," said Dumbledore. "He left this morning."

()()()()()

Hikari pushed open the door to Moody's office. The door _was_ locked. It was just a strange phenomenon associated with her Sylph-form that locks 'didn't apply' to her. She closed the door behind her, and looked around. The room was full of traps, set to trigger if an intruder touched the floor. She drifted towards a weird trunk that was shaking, and had loud noises coming from it.

She opened the lid, and looked inside. "Hello Mr Moody."

"Rescued by a giant fairy," he replied. "I'm never going to live that down."

"What the fuck?!" said 'Moody' from the fireplace, as Hikari airlifted his prisoner from the trunk. "Crucio! ...huh?"

...nothing happened.

Moody looked down. The trunk below him was no longer bigger on the inside. The fake-Moody's disguise had disappeared, revealing him to be a young man. His tongue flicked in and out of his mouth, a reptile-like nervous tick. Even the floo-network had been severed.

"What did you do?" asked Moody.

"Field Collapse," Hikari replied. "It's one of my mother's spells."

"No wand? No chanting?" the man cowering in the fireplace was confused. "No mere non-human can be more powerful than the Dark Lord."

Hikari bent down, and whispered something in fake-Moody's ear, too quietly for Moody to hear.

"Should I know what you said to Crouch, or am I better-off not knowing?" Moody asked.


	8. Chapter 8

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 8

"Those bastards did a real number on this," said Hikari, looking over her armour. "The only things still functional are the cloaking system, and the two-way mana to energy converter. It will take weeks to repair under normal circumstances."

"You don't have weeks," replied Moody. "You were involved in a duel that resulted in fatalities. If you don't want them to find out your 'little secret' you need to be ready before morning."

"...Smeg!... I'm taking my armour to the clearing in the middle of the Forest. Don't panic, if you see anything weird in the next hour or two."

Around fifteen minutes later, a twenty metre high purple pillar, topped by magic circles, and surrounded by purple runes and black lightning appeared in the middle of the woods.

()()()()()()

Meanwhile, behind the shadow of the moon, a man in a blue suit is hiding in a cleaning cupboard.

_**DOC-TOR! WE HAVE YOUR TARDIS! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE! PREPARE TO BE**_ ...EXTermi...nated...

He opened the door part-way. The Daleks weren't moving. Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he scanned the closest one, causing a brief discharge of purple energy and black lightning. A voice came from the nearby ventilation duct. "Doctor, is it safe to come out?"

"It's fine," replied The Doctor. "They all appear to be dead."

"When that purple light washed through the research station, I thought the Daleks were testing a new weapon. What was it?"

"I don't know. What can completely drain the life-energy from eighteen Daleks so quickly? The sonic refuses to identify it. Maybe the TARDIS can analyse the residual energy."

()()()()()()

"She was defending herself and others against a group of attackers, who even used the Killing Curse multiple times during their attack," said Moody.

Moody and Greengrass listened to Fudge's reply, their faced showing incredulity. "She is responsible for the deaths of seven students. It doesn't matter if it was self-defence, or not. The law states she must wait in Azkaban until her trial."

"So why weren't the instigators arrested?" Moody asked. "Was it because they're Purebloods, or because they're Slytherins?"

"The wardens have issued a petition," said Greengrass. "They want her relocated to a separate facility. They claim the interaction between her and the Dementors could have a permanent, detrimental, effect."

"It's Azkaban," stated Umbridge, in her usual arrogant tone. "It's not meant to be fun and games."

"You didn't red the report from three days ago, when you sent her there, did you?" asked Greengrass.

"We have more important things to do, than read useless reports about a scared little fourteen year old girl," said Fudge.

"You should have," said Moody. "When Bellatrix LeStrange and her group tried to make her their prison-bitch, she reached into Bellatrix's chest, and showed her heart to her, before she died. The petition to have her moved is because the Dementors are terrified of her."

()()()()()

A wheezing, groaning noise echoed through the Forbidden Forest. A few seconds later, a blue box appeared in the middle of a clearing. To anyone outside of the magical world, it resembled an old police telephone box, from the late 1950s. The door opened, and a man in a blue military coat stepped out. "Jack, be careful out there," called a voice from inside. "We don't know what to expect."

"You're right about that, Doctor," Jack replied as _another_ Police Box appeared a few metres in front of him.

The Doctor stepped out, and his jaw dropped. "What?"

The door of the other Police Box opened, and a red-haired girl stepped out. "Uh, Harmony, I think you'd better come out here."

"A blonde head poked out of the door. "What is it Mizuchi? You know your sister seeing me could result in a paradox." She brushed her hair out of her eyes with her hand, revealing an extra two pairs of eyes. "Oh, company."

"Jack, just don't," warned the Doctor.

"Hello, ladies!" Jack flirted. "Nice set of horns, Red." Mizuchi blushed.

"Mizuchi, stop flirting with the human," said Harmony, as she stepped out of the door.

"_Woah!"_ exclaimed the Doctor. "I didn't know there was an Arachne sub-species with blue eyes."

"Most Timelords don't even know Arachne exist," Harmony replied.

"Harmony, stop flirting with the Timelord," said Mizuchi. "His TARDIS will get jealous." She turned towards the Doctor. "Your TARDIS looks like a Type 40. How's her Navigation Systems? My older sister has been refitting this Type 50 she salvaged."

"What was it your friend said about a paradox, Red?" Jack asked.

"Spoilers," Mizuchi replied. "Well, for my sister, at least. She sent me back, to minimise the risks of crossing her own timestream. If you'll excuse me, I have a mission to fulfil. Harmony, I'll leave you in their company. Don't upset your sister."

"Sister?" Jack asked. "Is she pretty?"

"She's right there," Harmony declared, pointing towards the Doctor's TARDIS. "I've been fitted with a System Holographic Interface Program module, and a hard-light Remote Holographic Projector unit."

The Doctor suddenly zoned-out. _"...she...she...she's a TARDIS?"_

"Doctor! Get _that_ thought out of your head," replied Jack.

()()()()()

Hagrid was just returning to his hut, when Fang suddenly bolted towards a young woman, who was exiting the tree-line near his hut. "Fang! Get back here!" he shouted.

By the time he arrived where the two of them where, he was out of breath.

"Looks like the happy-puppy like tummy rubs."

The young woman reminded him a little of the O'Reilly girl, except she was wearing bright colours. Her dress was bright blue, with violet trim. Her cape appeared to be made from metallic-purple reptile scales, and a pale blue leather of some type. She had a set of horns poking out of her hair, near her ears.

_Wait..horns?_ Hagrid thought. _Another dragon?_

"Try anything, spider, and I'll use my breath on you," she said, as an Acromantula, just inside the tree-line moved into a position to pounce on her. It didn't listen.

Hagrid looked at the giant spider, now completely encased in ice. "Bloody hell. I never thought I'd see a Frost Dragon in my lifetime. I thought they all went extinct centuries ago."

()()()()()

Mizuchi walked straight into Hikari's room, surprising all of the girls that were in there.

"Mistress?" said a voice from the large bed. "Wait. You're not my Mistress. Why does a dragon look like my Mistress?"

"Big, bouncy, and blonde," commented Mizuchi. "At least I know my big sister has a preferred 'type' in her partners."

"Hikari's Sister?" Harriet looked confused. "How can a dragon and a fairy be related?"

"Too much time travel, with inadequate shielding, messed with our mother's DNA. At least that's the theory my superior at ICEP put forward."

"ICEP?" Hermione asked.

"Interspecies Cultural Exchange Program," Mizuchi replied. "We help isolated non-human communities to integrate into the modern world. I came here to do a few things, then I'll be out of your hair."

Rings of rainbow runes orbited her hands and body, and all of the books in the shelves floated out, into the air.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"Great-great-grandma Titania hid some things here." Mizuchi replied, as she rearranged all of the books. "If I reinsert them in the order she bought them in..."

"-urther more... Wait, you're not Titania." A person appeared in the middle of the room, to the surprise of everyone present. The newcomer looked at Mizuchi. "When did she have a kid? How long was I offline?"

Mizuchi scrutinised the newcomer. "Wow! You must be an early-prototype System Holographic Interface Program. So, I'm guessing you were shut down mid conversation." She turned towards the others in the room. "How long ago was this school founded?"

"Around one thousand years ago," replied Daphne.

"The hat demon said the Mistress's ancestor was driven out about six months after the founding," said Kemuri. "Has Mr Ghost been hibernating, and overslept?"

"Something like that," replied Mizuchi, looking at some lines of code on the room's computer monitor. "Great-great-grandma hid anything important, that she couldn't take with her, to keep it away from Salazar Slytherin, and Rowena Ravenclaw. She probably intended to return when things blew over. Unfortunately, she got side-tracked." She placed something into the data-crystal slot of the computer."We found her body a week ago. She died on some backwater world, protecting its inhabitants from an extra-dimensional incursion six months earlier. They enshrined her in their Capital's primary temple. ...almost done. When you next come online, you'll be transferred to a new mainframe. I plan to upgrade ICEP's Tokyo server, so it can link up with Lethbridge-Stewart Station. You'll be busy, mostly with paperwork. Lately, it's just been marriage registrations and entering newborns into the system."

The newcomer vanished, and Mizuchi placed a book she was carrying onto the bookshelf. A secret alcove opened behind the bed.

"Wooaahh!" Kemuri exclaimed. "So many shiny things!"

Daphne and Hermione looked inside.

"Staffs, rings, wands, swords." said Daphne.

"Is this some sort of private vault, or an armoury?" Hermione asked, as she picked up what was obviously a pump-action shotgun.

"Both," replied Mizuchi. "The will stated that these belong to the students, for use in a time of emergency. However, _that_," she pointed to one particular item, "is specifically listed as belonging to Hikari."

Hermione tried to lift the item, barely lifting it with both hands. Mizuchi effortlessly picked it up in one hand. "Military-grade bulkhead-cutter," she commented. "The combat handle appears to be made from the wood of an elder tree, and so does the secondary handgrip. Mana-drive for the engine, so Hikari's excess mana can power this thing. The chainguard is enchanted, to keep the teeth on the chain permanently sharp. Holy shit! The chain on this thing is Orichalcum!"


	9. Chapter 9

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter9

"They dumped her in Azkaban!" Draco burst through the door. "Who is that?"

Mizuchi turned around and placed the weapon on a nearby table that appeared by itself. "That's a bit of overkill. It should be safe, as long as nobody tries to mind-rape her."

"...uhh..." Draco hesitated. "Just out of curiosity, what would happen?"

"Think of Hikari's armour as a special type of Golem," replied Mizuchi. "I checked your school doctor's files. She has a fractured arm, and it looks like she might have flat-lined a few times. That means her body is prioritising physical repairs, so her mental defences will be either lower than normal, or even down. If she passes out from shock, her armour will switch to autonomous-mode, and will defend its pilot with lethal force."

"Bellatrix,"whispered Draco. "She was killed shortly after Hikari arrived. The Dementors guarding the entrance give newcomers an 'Azkaban Welcome' which sometimes causes them to faint."

"I need to check something," said Mizuchi

**++CryoDragonPrime:** Harmony, ask the Doctor and Jack if either of them can remote-disable the battle-computer of a suit of techno-organic exo-armour.

**++TimeWeaver1337:** I'll ask.

**++TimeWeaver1337:** The Doctor's sonic device might be able to do it, if you have the shield frequencies.

**++CryoDragonPrime:** Have them meet me at that playing field.

"Kemuri, you're coming with me. Hikari needs rescuing."

()()()()()

A purple and blue three-headed dragon, and a white 'normal' dragon were flying at full speed over the ocean. Each had a person clinging to their backs.

"Doctor!" Jack tried to make his voice heard over the rushing wind. "I never thought we'd be flying to Azkaban Prison, on the backs of a pair of dragons!"

"I didn't think it was possible, either!" replied the Doctor.

"This is a first for myself as well," replied Mizuchi, turning one of her heads towards the Doctor. "You're my first ever passenger."

"The prison is up ahead," Kemuri warned. "Be ready!"

"Over there!" Jack pointed. "Does that look like a landing-strip to you?"

The dragons changed course, towards where Jack was pointing.

()()()()()

A heart-rending scream echoed throughout the graveyard.

Snape looked away from the body of the Death-Eater that broke the news of Bellatrix's death to Voldemort. Nagini was already slithering over towards the still-warm corpse.

"With all due respect my Lord," Snape quietly spoke. "Setting MacMillan on her, and then manipulating the Ministry into placing the girl in Azkaban was a mistake on our agents' parts. She is an unknown quantity."

"She's still only a fourteen year old girl," said a masked wizard.

"A fourteen year old who survived a direct hit from the Killing Curse," replied Snape.

"She what?" the masked wizard asked, confused.

"Potter might not be the person mentioned in the prophecy," Snape commented. "According to school records, O'Reilly was born on the 31st of July."

"Aren't you clutching at straws?" Pettigrew questioned. "A date of birth isn't sufficient cause to worry. After all, Longbottom was also born at the end of July."

Everyone, except Snape laughed.

"That may be," Snape replied. "However, Longbottom doesn't know battle-class Dark Magic, and O'Reilly matches a lot of the prophecy's criteria. Dumbledore seems to be particularly afraid of some aspects of her."

()()()()()

"Why did this have to become complicated?" asked Mizuchi, back in her 'human' form, using a doorway as cover.

Jack leaned against the cover of the opposite doorway. "You didn't tell me her armour had built-in machine-guns."

Bullets struck the place where he was previously standing.

"I didn't know," Mizuchi replied. "Also, you didn't tell me you were immortal."

"I need a few more seconds!" said the Doctor. "Keep that armour distracted!"

"I'm doing what I can," replied Mizuchi. "The armour switched to incendiary ammunition, when I tried to put up an ice barrier!"

"That guard should never have tried that sneak-attack," said Jack. "The armour now sees everyone as hostile, not just the inmates! This is why I hate fairies! There are never any good ones!"

The shields on the armour suddenly dropped, and the armour became inert. "Now!" shouted the Doctor.

Mizuchi Flash-stepped into range of the armour, and pulled the two emergency-release levers near its hatch. Jack then reached in, removed the neural-link hardware from Hikari, and pulled her unconscious body from the armour's cockpit.

"It's hard to believe that something so small can be so dangerous," the Doctor commented, scanning her with his sonic screwdriver. "What? This says she's a Timelord?"

"What?" Jack replied.

"Two hearts, and everything. She's just one twelfth normal size."

"Oh, right. We're from a different cluster of parallel time-lines," said Mizuchi. "Surprise!"

The Doctor scanned her too. "Really?! You're one too?"

"Yes, I am," Mizuchi replied.

"If there's more than one of you, the Time War didn't happen in your history," Jack commented.

"We nearly had a war," murmured Hikari, as she started waking up. "One of Gallifrey's ruling factions resurrected the war criminal Rasillon, 'to make Gallifrey great again'. Fortunately, our Dalek, and Thal ambassadors helped to foil their attempted coup."

"Hold on," said the Doctor. "The Daleks honoured Romana's treaty in your time-line?"

"From what I understand, Rasillon broke your treaty first," Mizuchi replied. "If the genetic damage Davros did to 'our' Daleks hadn't been reversed by the Supreme Dalek, centuries ago, the results might have been different. By the way, some of Mother's cousins are part Dalek."

()()()()()

Back at the Hogwarts Infirmary, there were plenty of questions being directed at Mizuchi, Jack, and the Doctor.

"Let me get this straight," said Professor McGonagall. "There are several different versions of earth, clustered together like grapes in a vineyard?"

"It's a 'close enough' description," replied Mizuchi. "With the right spells or equipment, you can travel to different worlds in your cluster. However, it still has some risks. You can also, with some effort and a _lot_ of risk, you can 'jump' to a different cluster."

"How come you knew about Azkaban, but Hikari didn't?" Harriet asked.

"When Harmony and myself first jumped across to this cluster, we overshot a little."

**Flashback**

Mizuchi stepped out of the TARDIS, and saw they were inside some sort of walk-in supplies cupboard. She carefully peaked out of the doorway, to see what looked like an old 19th century classroom.

_How far did we overshoot?_ Mizuchi thought.

She quietly walked into the classroom, and noticed the students all had wands, and were attempting some sort of Object Transformation spells. Then she noticed the teacher was lecturing a red-haired boy, who had some sort of rat-goblet hybrid in front of him. She could see why the spell malfunctioned. _The teacher probably hasn't noticed._ Mizuchi walked over, and picked up the furry object.

"Excuse me, young lady!" the teacher chided. "Who gave you permission to handle another student's property?"

"I know why his spell didn't work," replied Mizuchi. "The object already had a Transformation spell on it. Both spells are interfering with each other." Rainbow-coloured runes orbited her hands. "I'll just undo both spells."

The object in her hands became a man. The teacher was shocked "Peter Pettigrew! Dear gods! Sirius Black was innocent! Miss Granger, go fetch Professor Dumbledore. Miss Greengrass, go and find Professor Snape."

"Interesting tattoo," Mizuchi said. "It has the same resonance as that scar on that boy's head." She pointed towards the boy with glasses, next to the redhead. "As for you, ratboy, quit trying to transform back."

**End flashback.**

"The Ministry had to release Black, and give a very public apology," Mizuchi commented. "They hadn't even given him a trial, before dumping him in there."

"How far back in time did you come?" Hikari asked quietly. "You should only be about seven or eight. You're all grown up."

"I'm sixteen," Mizuchi replied. "We've been living in Japan since I was ten. Mother decided to move us closer to Mum's relatives. Oops!"

"Don't give away too many spoilers," Hikari laughed. "Erika finally confessed."

"Hikari, we tried to figure out what that egg was while you were away," said Daphne. "All we get is an ear-splitting shriek when we open it."

"let me have a look," said Mizuchi. "Hikari needs to rest up. Jack! Quit flirting with the nurse! The Doctor has wandered off somewhere."

()()()()()

Mizuchi opened the egg, and winced slightly at the noise. She muttered something in Uruk-hai, then turned to the others. "The task is a timed fetch-quest under the lake."

"How did you get that?" Harriet asked. "I only just found out from Cedric. He just found out last night, when the egg fell in the bathtub."

"I have a gift for languages." Mizuchi replied. "My main job at ICEP is giving remedial Japanese lessons to cultural exchange candidates." She looked closer at Harriet. "That's a nasty curse. Soul-fragment, right?"

"Yes," she replied.

"I can remove it, if you want. I did it for the 'Harry' kid, in the other timeline. Don't let Hikari try, though. She's good at removing curses from inanimate objects. Scarily good, but she'll probably kill you in the process. She's got too much Dark Magic running through her."


	10. Chapter 10

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 10

Hikari woke to the feeling of her hand being held, and a cool hand brushing against her cheek. _I'm in Sylph form? I thought I couldn't do that in my sleep._

"You're finally waking up," said a familiar voice, from nearby. "Your boyfriend was frantic with worry."

"Boyfriend?!" Hikari opened her eyes, and sat up quickly, startling her bedside companion.

"It seems you ingested something that affected your mental barriers," Mizuchi whispered. "Someone has apparently been trying to hack your mind for a while. Dying a couple of times hasn't helped. I don't think it was an accident that I was sent back here after all."

"I'm aware of the attempted mind-hack," replied Hikari. "The wraith things wouldn't have been able to do what they did, if I hadn't already been mentally exhausted." Her voice became suspicious. "How did _you_ get past my defences so easily?"

"That was partially me," replied the person who Hikari realised was still holding her hand.

_Why haven't I let it go?_ Hikari wondered.

"It seems that his presence helps to 'calm' your soul," Mizuchi commented. "As for your, for want of a better term, mind-scape; I have something equivalent to a programmer's back-door access key."

"Mother's memories," Hikari whispered. "You accessed my mind, through those, while your friend here distracted me."

"I'm _your_ friend, actually," replied the person sitting beside the bed. Hikari realised she _knew_ him, even though she couldn't describe him, physically. It was almost as if he had a perception filter over him, as only Mizuchi and Dr Pomfrey appeared to notice his presence. The healer looked at him as if he was a familiar, and mildly-unwelcome, presence.

"Doc, he's not here for professional reasons."

_Does nothing stop Mizuchi from being so cheerful?_ Hikari looked at her little sister. _She's like my polar-opposite._

"Now that my big sister is awake, I'm going to ..._uh..._ inform the school principal she's recovered."

The man beside the bed pulled out an ornate hourglass from inside his jacket. The sand in the top was almost empty. "This could be interesting," he commented. "For the first time ever, I have no idea what the cause of death of a mortal is going to be."

Madam Pomfrey and Hikari looked at the hourglass with fascination. "Is that what I think it is?" the mediwitch asked. "I've always wondered how you knew when someone's time was near."

A few minutes later, the last grain of sand left the top vessel. A few seconds later, the inside of the hourglass filled with flames. The sand vanished from the lower half, and reappeared in the top. "Fucking horcruxes!"

()()()()()()

Mizuchi looked mildly irritated at the gargoyle statue. "Either let me pass, or I'll make you," she growled. The statue moved aside. Wings unfurling, Mizuchi ascended the stairwell.

Dumbledore was surprised to hear knocking at his office door. There was no indication of the charms and curses on the spiral stair having been activated. He had the feeling that whoever was on the other side of that door wasn't going to fooled as easily by his grandfatherly facade as others were. "Enter!" he called.

The girl looked almost the same as Hikari, except she was dressed in bright colours. The metallic-purple on her dragon-scale cloak only made the blues of her dress and cloak-lining look even brighter. _Is she another fairy, who can make herself human-sized?_

"My sister's physical condition is a result of genetic tampering," the girl said, looking him directly in his eyes. "I'm also not a fairy." She scratched her head, near one of her hair ornaments. Dumbledore's eyes widened, briefly, in surprise as he realised that he wasn't looking at an ornamental headband, but a 'crown' of horns on the girl's head.

Then it hit him. _She's a Legillimens! She read my thoughts!_

"I can see magic," the girl commented. "So many curses, charms and potions. Truth-serums in the tea, mind-relaxants in the biscuits, and psychic-neutralisers in the lemon drops. Then there's all of those physical de-buffers on the stairs. It's like I'm in the lair of a Dark Wizard."

Dumbledore was disconcerted. The girl hadn't once broken eye-contact, but he couldn't seem to enter her mind. Just when he thought he'd found a way in, it seemed to shift and flow, like trying to grasp water.

**++CryoDragonAlpha:** _He hasn't figured it out yet._

**++CryoDragonBravo:** _Should we give him a hint as to why?_

**++CryoDragonCharlie:** _Where's the fun in that?_

**++CryoDragonPrime:** I might only be the virtual-representation of when all three of you have consensus, but the clue was already given when we scratched the base of our primary left horn.

A mild look of amusement showed on the girl's face. _She's toying with me._ Dumbledore realised. _How can a sixteen year old girl have Occulmency skills better than mine?_ He was beginning to get frustrated. Then he noticed the hint of fangs in her smile. _She must be another Dark creature. Therefore, the 'rules' no longer apply._ He drew his wand.

"Interesting," Mizuchi commented. "You have one of Mr Karitoriki's artefacts. He's downstairs with my sister at the moment." A halberd appeared in her hand. _I never thought I'd be needing a skill Aunt Elma taught me quite this soon,_ she thought.

"Imperio!" _++Expelliarmus!++_

"Mind control? Disarmament? Really?" Mizuchi wasn't impressed. "You really should think ahead before attacking a dragon." She held his wand in her hand. "Being able to cast multiple spells simultaneously isn't unique to Hikari."

Dumbledore looked down. Mizuchi's halberd blade was lodged in his chest, his blood already freezing on contact. He vanished, in a burst of flame."

()()()()()

A few days later, the five contestants were standing on the pontoon, ready to dive into the lake.

"Acting Principal McGonagall, why did you change the objective for this task?" Principal Karkaroff wasn't happy with surprises.

"It's very simple," she replied. "You can't use boyfriends or girlfriends for everybody, as Harriet and Cedric have been dating since last year."

"And kidnapping Kemuri would be fatal," commented Mizuchi.

"Quite. Taking little sisters would also have a similar result," agreed McGonagall, looking meaningfully at the young Frost Dragon. "That's why young Miss O'Reilly here suggested the 'Examination Upgrade Pass' idea. Not every student can excel in every one of their subjects." She turned to the competitors. "Hikari, don't go overboard. You're exempt from exams. They're not."

()()()()()()

The students were on their way to Hogsmeade, chatting away happily.

"Viktor is going to find that upgrade pass useful," Hermione said. "Apparently the extra Quidditch practices have been affecting his grades a little."

"Can you believe that article Skeeter published?" Mizuchi asked. "Don't they fact-check things before publication?"

"Most of the magazines and newspapers here are propaganda media," commented Hikari. "Facts are the irrelevant to those. On another matter, what happened to the two men that followed you here?"

"The Doctor is running around like an excited twelve year old. Jack is randomly keeping him in check, and flirting with the locals. Last time I saw them, Harmony was dragging them from an Acromantula nest."

"I still need to see this 'Harmony' person you keep mentioning."

"I've already told you. Seeing her could result in a paradox."

As they headed towards The Three Broomsticks, they spotted the newspaper stand.

**STRANGE MONSTER SPOTTED IN THE FORBIDDEN FOREST**

"Oh shit," said Mizuchi, as she covered Hikari's eyes. The Daily Prophet had somehow acquired an image of Harmony rescuing Jack and the Doctor.

"Was that an arachnid variant of a centaur?" Hikari asked.

"Fuck!" Mizuchi exclaimed, as everyone in the area, including her, suddenly clutched their heads in pain. "Paradox!"

"What was that?" Many witches and wizards were confused.

"Care to explain?" Professor McGonagall was looking directly at her, having heard Mizuchi's comment.

"Long answer, or short?" Mizuchi replied.

"Short, for now. You can give me the long answer in private."

"Rita Skeeter has just caused a time paradox," Mizuchi explained, for the benefit of the nearby witches and wizards. She turned to the professor. "Where is a good place to talk?"

"The Boar's Head pub," she replied.

**++CryoDragonPrime:** Harmony. Meet us in town. The Boar's Head.

**++TimeWeaver1337:** The paradox? Hikari found out somehow?

**++CryoDragonPrime:** I'll explain over here. Bring Jack and the Doctor.

()()()()()()

Eight people were sitting in a quiet corner of the Boar's Head, with various privacy spells erected, to keep the few other customers from overhearing. Beyond the initial stares of an arachne boldly walking through the village, nobody commented beyond mild surprise at there being 'spider variant' centaurs.

Kemuri briefly looked jealous, when Harmony embraced Hikari. She settled down, when Mizuchi mentioned their brother, Hiroshi, had four girlfriends.

"I suppose that I can share my Mistress," she grumbled.

"As you may have noticed," Mizuchi began, "We have had a bit of a hiccough with the space/time continuum."

"A bit?" Jack commented. "I thought the Doctor was about to regenerate again."

"What happened?" McGonagall asked.

"Hikari wasn't supposed to know about the existence of the arachne species for at least another year," explained Mizuchi. "Skeeter publishing that article has changed established historical events across at least four different versions of Earth. You've used a time travel device before, so you know the potential risks.

"Before the changes, Hikari made four more space-bridges, to make it back to 'our' timeline. On the second leg of her trip, she found her quantum twin. She was half-buried under a collapsed building, while rescuing school-children from an extra-dimensional invader. Hikari saved her, by using her armour as emergency prosthetics. Because her lower-half was crushed, Hikari didn't know she was an arachne. When she saw her first 'intact' arachne at the emergency field hospital, her anger and despair at realising she had saved her sister's life at the expense of permanently mutilating her, caused her to literally beat a god to within half an inch of its life. That caused the invaders to rout, terrified of the 'reincarnation of the Great Titania, consort of Death, Bringer of Chaos' and her wrath."

"They got the second part partially right," Mr Karitoriki whispered. "But not until she drinks me under the table on her 21st birthday."

Seven sets of eyes focus on him in shock.


	11. Chapter 11

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 11

The Doctor turned to face the blond arachne. "Are you sure this is even possible?"

"As long as Mizuchi is with you, I'll be able to form a link with your TARDIS, and you can traverse the barriers separating our realities."

"Jumping realities shouldn't even be possible."

"You of all people know that it is. You managed it during the Project Inferno incident. It's easier, when your own ...destiny lines... is a good enough term. When your destiny lines intersect with the alternate timeline, it is easier to jump. In this case, Hikari's and Mizuchi's ancestor was involved heavily in this cluster of realities."

Kemuri reluctantly entered the clearing. It was that or be dragged there by Mizuchi. "Why do I have to leave my Mistress's side?"

"Because you won't survive where she ends up on her next jump, and our exit-window is only open for another two hours," explained Harmony.

Hikari entered the clearing, with several fairies in tow. "Here are the Snapdragon Tribe, ready to go. Why aren't you hustling me to leave right now?"

"The Tri-Wizard binding spell will kill all the other participants if you do not complete the final task. Additionally, your ability to form Space-bridge Class dimensional portals uses a different set of 'rules' to the retro-engineering you used to modify my time rotors."

A few minutes later, the clearing was empty.

()()()()()

Hikari examined the item Mizuchi left on the table.

"What is that?" asked Professor McGonagall. "It looks like a sword, but there are too many extra components for that to be the case."

"It actually _is_ a sword," explained Hikari. "We just call it a bulkhead cutter, because of the shape of the cutting components. If the cutting component was a circular blade instead of a chain, we would have called it a 'tank saw'. If the cutting component was an energy field, it would be a 'salvage cutter'. I think the last one was only named that, because the energy-blade is the only thing that can cut through the dwarf-star alloy our ships hulls are constructed out of."

"So it is a weapon." The disapproval in McGonagall's voice was apparent.

"A weapon made from unusual components," said Hikari. A look of surprise appeared on her face. "Smegging hell! Orichalcum?" She looked closer at the rest of the weapon. "Elder wood, a few components I can't identify, inlaid inside the structure. Mizuchi probably has, but she didn't want to tell me. This is a Spell Focus!"

"A what?" McGonagall asked.

"This is our people's version of a wand," replied Hikari.

()()()()()

"Professor Dumbledore! What brings you to the Department of Mysteries today?" asked a wizard.

"I was wondering if you had something that could Obliviate someone with an eidetic memory," he replied. He lowered his voice. "It's Order business."

"I'll see what I can find," he whispered back.

()()()()()

It was time for the final task. All the contestants had to do was navigate the enchanted hedge maze. The winner was the first to reach the Cup.

Viktor turned towards Harriet and Cedric. "When you two finish making out, and come up for air, could you explain what your school-mate is doing in that corner?"

Harriet broke off her kiss, and glanced over towards Hikari. "She's with her boyfriend," she commented, before returning to her make-out session.

The people in the competitors' tent looked towards the corner, but only saw shadows.

"Boyfriend?" commented Fleur. "I thought she liked girls."

"Why would I limit myself to a mere fraction of the choices available to me?" Hikari asked. Her hand appeared to brush something they couldn't see.

"Your friend should remove his invisibility cloak, while in here," commented one of the judges.

"He's leaving," replied Hikari. "He has work to attend to."

"Fine," commented the wizard. "Just don't wear invisibility cloaks outside of official Auror business, ...mister?..."

"Karitoriki," replied the shadow, as it left the tent.

()()()()()

Hikari made it to the centre of the maze. Just as she was about to touch the Cup, an alert flashed up on her armour's HUD. _An embedded teleport spell?_ "Target analysis. Track coordinates."

**:-Analysing... Please wait...-:**

From the other side of the Cup, she heard Harriet's voice. "Together."

_Smeg!_ Hikari thought. "Stop!" she called out, but was too late. The Cup disappeared, with no evidence of whoever was on the other side of the pedestal.

Viktor and Fleur arrived in the centre of the maze, out of breath.

"Where are Cedric and Harriet?" asked Viktor.

"The Cup was a teleport trap," replied Hikari. "They touched it, and disappeared."

**:- Error. Quantum entanglement detected -:**

**++MechaFaeire1337:** Unlock sys/file VTXman3.5 and sys/file VTX/map5.1

**:- Files unlocked. Reprocessing -:**

"The cup was a portkey?" commented Fleur, in surprise. "We need to tell the judges." She and Viktor fired off their 'distress flare' spells. The judges came running in, staring with confusion at the empty pedestal.

**:- Coordinates locked. Quantum interference 98%. Initiate space-bridge: Y/N? -:**

**++MechaFaerie1337:** Negative. Activate the Gate spell. Same target coordinates. Update alert status from yellow to blue. Stay here.

Hikari stepped out of her armour, and transformed into her Sylph form.

Viktor and Fleur watched Hikari walk through a vertical magic circle that had appeared in the air.

()()()()()

Harriet struggled against the enchanted statue, tears streaming down her eyes, as the newly-resurrected Voldemort stood over Cedric's corpse, and mocked her.

"...And look, Harriet. My family retur-" THUMP. Voldemort was crash-tackled by 90kg of angry fairy queen.

"Filthy creature!" exclaimed one of the masked wizards. "How dare you touch the Dark Lord!"

Hikari ignored them, as she tore the arms off the statue, freeing Harriet.

"Not that I'm not grateful," she gasped. "But why aren't you in your armour."

"It restricts my abilities," replied Hikari. "Voldemort isn't the only enemy in the area."

"D'you think?" sarcasm dominated Harriet's reply. "There are at least twenty Death-Eaters behind you." Then she noticed Hikari wasn't looking at her. She turned towards where Hikari was looking.

"Right now, those are more dangerous than the twenty five people on my six."

"What is so fascinating about my grandfather's mausoleum?" Voldemort called.

"It's not the mausoleum," she replied. "It's the statues."

Flanking the tomb's entrance were two angel statues. They were sculpted to look like they were mourning for the person entombed within.

Hikari whispered to Harriet. "Keep myself between you and the statues at all times, and when that's not possible, do not blink."

Hikari flinched as a spell got past her shield.

Harriet gasped. The statues had changed poses. Their hands were no longer covering their faces. "Who's animating them? Everyone appears to be aiming spells at you."

"They aren't statues.' Hikari drew her blaster. "I've heard of these creatures, but have never actually seen them before."

_**EXTERMINATE!**_

The light in the area surrounding the statues 'inverted' but the statues remained unaffected.

"Smegging hell!" Harriet noticed a hint of worry in Hikari's voice. "_**RUN!**_"

Hikari grabbed Harriet's arm, and ran, picking a direction away from both the Death-Eaters, and the statues.

"Look at the cowards run!" mocked one of the wizards.

_Why is she running?_ Voldemort wondered . Then he saw the expressions on the statues "AVADA KEDAVRA!" The statue flashed green, and appeared to crack.

The cracked statue turned its head towards the wizards.

Just as they were reaching the edge of the cemetery, Hikari stopped. Harriet's hopes were raised, as she saw Professor Dumbledore walking towards them.

"I can't have you telling people about my ...bond... with Fawkes." He raised his wand.

"Close your eyes, Harriet," whispered Hikari.

"Yes, yes. A good idea," Dumbledore commented. "She really shouldn't see this coming."

"You're right. She shouldn't. _Perception Filter._" Hikari's presence seemed to vanish, but Dumbledore knew she was still there. He raised his wand-

...and was gone...

There was a _third_ angel statue in the cemetery.

"You led him her, didn't you?" Hikari addressed thin air. "Clever idea to bypass the horcrux, by shunting him backwards in time."

"I wasn't entirely sure it would work," said Karitoriki. "We still need to find a way to remove the soul-fragment from that phoenix." He drew his scythe, and put its blade through the angel's chest.

Hikari spun around, her sword appearing in her hand. The _fourth_ angel's neck directly in its path.

"You've missed Cedric's resurrection-window," whispered Karitoriki.

"Voldemort got away," observed Harriet.


	12. Chapter 12

Darkness and a Fairy

chapter 12

Harriet was sitting on her usual swing in the small park, near the Dursley's house. The day was hot and dry, but it was better than having to pull weeds under the 'supervision' of Aunt Petunia.

She looked up, when she heard the sound of feet walking on the gravel path to her right. "Hey Big D," she greeted her cousin. "Beat up another ten year old?"

"This one deserved it," replied her cousin. His two henchmen smirked. One of them, Polkiss, was about to say something, when they heard someone walking towards them from the other end of the footpath.

"Hey, Harriet! I thought I'd find you here," greeted Hikari.

Dudley looked at the six foot woman approaching them. She was wearing black tactical gear, similar to what the special forces guys wore in that game Piers owned. He would have mistaken her for the real thing, if it wasn't for the 'fact' girls couldn't be soldiers.

"Hey, Hikari," Harriet greeted in return. "Are you living nearby?"

"Close enough," replied Hikari. "Azrael's little sister is letting us stay with her for the time being. I don't know what shocked her more. Her brother finding something outside of work to interest him, or that it only took me two days to set her place up with high speed internet. The three of us have been playing 'Fantasy Conquest Online' for the past few days."

"We play that game," commented Dudley's other friend. "Did you see how quickly that new group took out the guys that had been PK'ing newbies?"

"They had to have been admins," commented Polkiss. "No one could afford that level of customisation on a new account."

"I feel sorry for DoubleD Warrior," commented Hikari. "Firstly because he didn't think his name through, and secondly because everyone with a headset found out he was his mummy's precious Duddykins." She failed to suppress a giggle.

Ignoring Dudley's reddening face, and the mild look of amusement on the other three people, she continued on. "Seriously, though. That kid's parents going from thinking the sun shone out of his arse, to acting like he'd sprouted horns and a tail, just because of a fantasy game? The way his mother and father reacted before the microphone was smashed, I had the admins back-trace his address, and contact the police."

"What!?" Dudley's face went pale, before a look of confusion reached his face. "There were no police last night."

"No, there wouldn't be," Harriet grumbled. "They never came for me either."

"No. They didn't," agreed Hikari. "Azrael, Yuri and myself rushed to the nearby police stations. There were wards and runes everywhere. Someone _really_ wanted to keep the authorities from finding out what your home life was really like. Any time 4 Privet Drive, Potter, or Dursley was mentioned, a mind-wipe spell activated."

She pulled some documents from a 'pocket' in her exo-armour. "Thankfully, that's now a moot point. The Ministry forcing you into a competition only meant for adult participants provided a loophole to exploit." She placed the documents into Harriet's hand. "Congratulations! As of this moment, you are recognised as an emancipated citizen of both the Magical and mundane worlds. After I escort you to Privet Drive, to collect your belongings, we're heading to Gringots to deal with the next stage of the procedure."

Hikari then leant forwards, and whispered in her ear. "I also know why you've feeling nauseous for the last few weeks. It's up to you to inform Daedalus about Cedric junior, and Lily."

Harriet blushed, and whispered in reply. "How did you find out?"

"Yuri showed me the Life-timers," replied Hikari. "They appeared the night before the third task. Now let's get your things. The weather is getting weird."

The sky had darkened significantly, and there was a strange chill in the air, as Hikari escorted Harriet and Dudley back to Privet Drive. As they walked through the pedestrian tunnel under the road, the lights started to flicker and go out. Harriet recognised the shadowy form at the end of the tunnel. "We have to-"

"There's another one on our six," interrupted Hikari. "When I give you the signal, take your cousin and run."

"What signal is that?" Dudley asked. His eyes widened as Hikari's exo-armour deactivated its 'camouflage'. "What is that symbol on your arm?"

"My rank insignia," replied Hikari, as she drew her sword and formed her deflector grid into a visible 'shield' over her other arm. "Ready, Harriet?"

The distinct sound of machinegun fire could be heard, as Hikari charged the Dementor in front of her. Small-calibre rounds sprayed from openings on the exo-armour's 'helmet' barely distracting the creature from the two nearby humans. Dudley screamed, as the other one reached for him from behind, a blue glowing shield briefly blocking its reach.

"RUN!" Hikari yelled, pinning the first Dementor to the wall with her shield, and swinging her sword at the other one's head.

===/===

Petunia Dursley jumped in fright, as her front door burst open. _I could have sworn I'd locked it,_ she thought.

It was then that she noticed a pale blonde girl in one of those freak 'goth' dresses helping her freak niece to carry her semi-conscious Duddykins.

"Mrs Dursley," the pale girl ordered. "Clear a path to the sofa. These two were attacked on their way home from the park. Captain O'Reilly and my brother are dealing with them."

"OWLS!" Vernon bellowed as he stepped out of his car. "What did the freak do this time?"

"But I didn't use magic," Harriet whispered to Yuri. "I thought it was all Hikari."

The owl flew into the lounge room, and dropped a letter in front of Harriet. The letter then morphed into a face, in a similar manner to a Howler.

"Dear Miss Potter, we have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm in front of Muggles at-"

Vernon and Petunia jumped, as the letter exploded into confetti. Hikari stepped into the room, dark purple runic circles still orbiting her hand. "What Muggles? Dudley could see what attacked us. I'll deal with the Ministry in the morning. Harriet, come with me and get your things." She then threw a small bottle to Yuri. "Give that to Dudley. For a first attempt to use magic, he did well. Especially with all of those blocks old too-many-names must have shoved on him."

Petunia turned her head so fast she almost had whiplash. "WHAT!?" she screamed.

Dudley looked towards the bottle in the blonde's hand. "What is that?" he asked.

"It's a mana-replenishment potion," she replied.

"I'm a wizard?!" Dudley was shocked. "Why didn't I receive a letter, like Harriet?"

"That would be because someone has been meddling with your family for their own gain" commented Hikari. She turned to face Azrael, who was standing just outside the lounge room. "Could you send the goblins mine and Harriet's apologies, dear? It looks like we're going to the courthouse in the morning."

"I'll do that for you," he replied. "In the meantime, while you help Harriet pack, my sister and I will take these three to St Mungo's hospital to see if they can remove the curses that were placed on Dudley."

===/===

Adrian Brown performed a quick Tempus Charm. _6AM. Nobody comes to the Ministry at 6AM,_ he thought.

He was broken from his thoughts by a purple glow near the visitor entrance. Two young women materialised from within the light, and walked towards him. "Good morning mister Brown," greeted the redhead. "We need to drop some documents off to Miss Bones, and then head down to answer some charges that have been made against Lady Peverell."

"Lady Peverell?" Brown was confused. Isn't she Harriet Potter?"

"She's been Lady Peverell since she survived being AK'd," replied the redhead. "A dark wizard just kept that knowledge suppressed from the general population."

"Minister Fudge says You-know-who isn't back," Brown replied as if by instinct.

Hikari leaned towards him. "There are no less than four dark wizards on the planet right at this very moment. Tom Riddle isn't the biggest threat to Wizarding Britain right now. If it's not too much trouble, we've got things to do."

"Place your wands one at a time on the tray," said Brown.

Harriet placed her wand first. "Nothing cast in weeks," commented Brown. "Why did Umbridge say-"

"She's the bastard child of a Harridan and a Kappa," interrupted Hikari, as she placed her sword on the tray. "She would say anything to discredit anyone, if it served her agenda."

"That's not a wand," grumbled Brown.

"It's _my_ analogue for a wand," commented Hikari. "My little sister's is a two metre halberd. Good luck fitting _that_ on the tray."

===/===

Harriet was surprised to find Arthur Weasley waiting near the elevator. "Harriet!" he greeted. "How did you know they brought your trial forward?"

"I didn't," she replied. "We were here to drop something off at the DMLE, and one of Miss O'Reilly's contacts notified us."

"Speaking of her," commented Arthur. "Where is Hikari?"

"She's meeting us down there," Harriet replied, as they stepped into the elevator.

They eventually reached the courtroom, and waited as way too many Wizengamot members filed into the raised benches above her. Cornelius Fudge then addressed the room.

"Harriet Lily Potter. You are charged with the flagrant disregard for the Statute of Secrecy, by casting a Patronus Charm in front of Muggles last night. Do you have anything to say in your defence?"

"Uh, that I didn't do it," replied Harriet. "Check my wand. I haven't used it since the end of term."

"Hem, hem," interrupted a voice from within the judges. "That means nothing. She could have used another wand, or cast the spell without one."

Fudge was opening his mouth to agree, when a woman's voice echoed around the room. "Are you so desperate to discredit the girl that you would send multiple Dementors into a Muggle population centre?"

Fudge addressed the pale woman in black that walked into the room. "And who are you to accuse me of such a thing?"

"Where are my manners?" she replied. "Yuri Karitoriki is currently what I am called. My sister-in-law is just bringing a witness to the incident."

"W-witness?" Umbridge stammered, as the room seemed to grow colder. "Are we going to believe a couple of _children_?"

"I'm older than you Dolores," whispered Yuri.

Several jaws dropped, as a redhead wearing black Muggle Auror armour dragged a struggling Dementor into the room.


	13. Chapter 13

Darkness and a Fairy

Chapter 13

Dudley slowly opened his eyes. His head hurt, and his mouth felt dry. He hadn't felt this bad since the time he and Piers snuck out of the dorm, and 'acquired' that bottle of rum.

"I see you're awake."

Dudley turned his head towards the voice. He guessed the man beside him was a wizard-version of a doctor from the colour of his robes. The doctor was making nervous glances towards the other side of the room, and Dudley looked in the same direction.

Leaning his back against the wall, near the door, was a tall man. He was wearing a similar set of tactical gear as Harriet's friend, Hikari. The name 'Karitoriki' was on his nameplate. There was a strange staff propped up next to him, in the corner.

_Which regiment uses an hourglass and crossed scythes as an insignia?_ Dudley wondered. "Are you another robot, like Harriet's friend?" he asked.

Karitoriki's blue eyes almost shone, as he laughed. "Hikari isn't a robot! ...well, not exactly... That mecha-otaku fairy is sometimes too clever for her own good."

"She's a fairy?" Dudley was mildly confused. Then realisation dawned on his face. "Human-sized power armour!"

"Power armour?" asked the doctor. "Is that a muggle thing? Also, I thought fairies just played in the forest, and make plants grow. We trap them in cages, for Yule decorations."

"Never admit to that in her presence," said Karitoriki. "She'll rip your heart out of your chest, and show it to you before you die. If it's that time of month, she'll resurrect you, and repeat the process. Several times."

There was a brief crackle from Karitoriki's headset, and he tapped its microphone twice. He then picked up his staff- ...SCYTHE... and faced the door.

...which burst open...

That weird, old wizard that he sort of half-remembered occasionally seeing was in the doorway. He pointed a black stick at Karitoriki.

"Obliviate!"

A burst of light struck Karitoriki square on. _**ALBUS, ALBUS, ALBUS,**_ he admonished, as he pointed his scythe towards the wizard.

The words entered Dudley's head without going via his ears. The doctor dived under the bed.

_**IF YOU STILL BORE THE ELDER WAND, THAT SPELL MIGHT HAVE WORKED.**_

"Why can nobody understand that my actions are for the Greater Good? Avada Kedavra!" green light struck Karitoriki.

Dudley knew he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even he was smart enough to put two and two together. Tall, scythe, all in black. He dove under the bed as well.

"For someone as old as he is," whispered the doctor, "you would think Dumbledore would be smart enough to not antagonise the Reaper."

===/===

"It has been weeks!" Voldemort growled. "We must find out where this Hikari person is from, and what she has to do with Potter!"

"M-my Lord," cowered one of the wizards in the room. "We haven't found anything in Ministry records. It's as if she doesn't exist."

"Have you looked overseas?" Voldemort demanded, Crucioing the wizard on principle. "She was broken out of Azkaban by two _dragons_ with the ability to transform into humans."

===/===

"I feel sorry for that poor phoenix," said Hikari as she looked up at the high table at old too-many-names. "Fucking horcruxes. I also feel sorry for all of these kids. Caught in the middle of two Dark Lords and an incompetent government that has been strategically weakened."

"It pisses me off, you're all stuck here until at least your OWLs are done," commented Yuri. Nobody seemed to notice her, or he brother, sitting with the group. "The Ministry has bound your magic. If you leave the school for any reason other than a government-approved transfer, your magic is forcibly stripped from you, sometimes lethally. I hate having to collect children."

"Speaking of government," Harriet pointed her head towards a familiar figure in pink.

"At least she's only going to be here for a year," said Draco.

"Why haven't you asked Mizuchi to deal with the horcrux in the phoenix?" Hermione asked from opposite Hikari. "I know you can't remove curses from living things, but she did help Harriet."

"Fawkes is a phoenix," Hikari replied.

Hermione's face wrinkled in confusion.

"Isn't it"

"obvious?" said Fred and George.

"Dragons can't"

"use magic on"

"Phoenixes."

"I'm sorely tempted to invent a sixth Unforgivable, just to deal with this whole shit show," grumbled Hikari. "Bastard had to manage turning something immortal into a horcrux."

"Stupid half-breed," hissed someone from the Slytherin table. "There are only three Unforgivables."

Hikari leaned back. "Where I come from, there are five. Memory alteration spells are illegal where I come from, and you don't want to know about the fifth one."

"Do we need to know about the fifth one, just in case?" Daphne whispered.

"Trust me," Hikari whispered back. "If someone used it, no one alive would ever know. The spell erases its target from the space/time continuum. Mizuchi used a 'targeted' version of it on Harriet's scar."

===/===

The first fifth-year DADA lesson looked like it was going to be as disappointing as they dreaded. Umbridge was treating the fifteen-year-olds as if they were little kids.

Hermione raised her hand, which Umbridge pointedly ignored, so Daphne and Draco both raised theirs.

"You have a question, Heir Malfoy?" asked Umbridge.

"Yes, Professor. I was wondering why this is all theory," he commented. "How are we expected to pass our OWLs without any practical experience in the required spells?"

"A sound grasp of the theory is all you will need to pass this subject," she condescendingly replied.

The entire class shared glances with each other. The Ministry ACTUALLY found somebody worse than Lockhart.

"So how are we supposed to defend ourselves if we're attacked?" Harriet commented. Hikari and Yuri both placed calming hands on their 'relative' and shared a look.

Umbridge turned towards Harriet. _Got you,_ she thought. "Now, Potter, who could possibly want to attack you?"

Hikari made sure to answer, before any of the Gryffindors did something stupid. "Maybe she's gathering flowers near the river, when some ugly, pink, Kappa tries to accost her. Are you saying the Ministry has the staff and resources for an SRT squad, ready to deploy at a moment's notice? Are you going to issue every underage witch and wizard with a magical EP-RB?"

"Don't question your betters Mudblood," one of Umbrige's eyes twitched at the 'Kappa' comment.

"Yuri, have I ever questioned how you or Azrael do your job?" Hikari asked.

Umbridge bristled. "DETENTION! Immediately after dinner!"

===/===

Umbridge stirred the cup of tea she had just put a sixth spoon of sugar into. "Hikari, for this detention, you will be writing lines."

Hikari deliberately pulled a fountain pen and lined lecture pad out of her bag.

"No, no no. none of that Muggle stuff. You'll be using one of these." Umbridge placed a black quill on the desk. "You will be writing 'I will not question my betters'."

"So, I'm writing lines with one of these?" Hikari picked up the quill. She knew exactly what the item was, but had only ever used it in Sylph form. Blood magic was dangerous enough without adding foreign contaminants. "For how long?"

"Until it sink in."

"Interesting," commented Hikari, as the lines briefly appeared on her exo-armour.

Umbridge raised an eyebrow, as the luminous blue writing appeared on the parchment. "So, you're a filthy half-breed. You're even lower than a Mudblood."

Hikari was more worried about the flashing icon on her HUD, as she felt her hand itch. "No. I bleed red," she said. "The quill is pulling energon from my prosthetics, as well as myself."

After a few more lines, with Umbridge making various disparaging comments, Hikari idly made 'conversation' of her own. She spoke about how she thought it was strange the Ministry never kept tabs on the squib children of prominent families, just in case the family magic was merely only dormant. Umbridge didn't seem happy at the implication that Muggleborns were not actually stealing magic, but were really only reclaiming their lost heritage.

"Just out of curiosity," Hikari continued. "I'm still relatively new to how this place runs. Does the wizards' hospital have a way to treat someone who's received a lethal dose of radiation? After all, you're supposed to be superior to Muggles in every way."

Umbridge sneered. "Raidy what?"

"Radiation," the fairy kept her voice from revealing the current relevance of what she was talking about, as a worrying set of numbers appeared below the flashing icon. "For example, if one of you accidentally telep- apparates into a nuclear reactor."

"Too bad for them," replied the witch. "If they're that stupid, they deserve to die."

"Duly noted. _Expecto Patronum._" A coatl made out of light emerged from her sealed pilot's compartment. "Notify the House-elves that no one is to go within ten metres of this desk until rad-scrubbers can be brought in from Japan. If they do they will die." She turned back to the soon to be ex-DADA Professor. "Don't look at me like that. You've known this position has been cursed since the 60s. Everyone that took this post, while Tom Riddle was alive, died in 'accidents' all the time. The DADA Professors only stopped dying while Voldemort didn't have a body to physically take the job."

"Y-you're in here too," Umbridge said uncertainly.

"Yeah, I am," Hikari replied. "However, my armour's pilot's compartment is shielded, so I only received a minor dose of radiation before its safety systems activated. I can get treatment at a UNIT facility at any time. I'm so lucky I still have my ID card."

===/===

The current occupants of the 'Sturmdrachen dorm' were looking on in bemusement, as Yuri and her brother were both playing 'rock-paper-scissors' in front of them.

"Harriet, you"

"keep some"

"strange company," echoed the twins.

Luna gave them a dreamy look, while snuggled up to a bemused Neville. "Not so strange. They know one of them _has_ to deal with The Umbitch. They just don't want to be the one to do it."

"Not what"

"we meant."

"Who knew Harriet"

"literally had Death"

"as one of"

"her ancestors?"

"They could just leave her to be a ghost," said Hanna, from Neville's left side.

"That wouldn't be fair to the ghosts," said Susan, from Neville's right side.

Tracy broke of her kiss with Daphne. "Is it strange that we find it normal there are two avatars of Death having a sibling argument in front of us?"


End file.
